Albuquerque's Food Not Bombs chapter said UNMPD ordered the group to stop distributing food to students and community members on Friday, citing a city ordinance that prohibits serving without a license.
But UNMPD spokeswoman Christine Chester said the department doesn't have a record of the incident.
The group served meals Wednesday despite the alleged order.
Emma Clazing, one of the organizers of Albuquerque's Food Not Bombs, said UNMPD may have targeted her organization because of its far-left political views.
"There's no reason, in my mind, we shouldn't have the right of free speech here, for whatever it is we're saying," she said. "Because they're not really up for what we stand for. They're trying to get us on technical issues of food service, where in five years we've never had a problem here."
Clazing said Food Not Bombs has no plans to get a food-service permit.
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"We're pretty sure that they don't actually want us to get a permit," she said. "They just want us out of here. That's not something we're going to do."
Chelsea Cologne of Food Not Bombs said the group takes safety precautions when handling and distributing food.
"I think our food is really safe and healthy," she said. "If it were easy to get a license - if it were free and you didn't have to have expensive industrial equipment - we wouldn't mind the city giving us a license to say, 'Yes, we guarantee this food is healthy,' but they make it so hard to get those official papers unless you're a business."
Eric Svingen, a Food Not Bombs activist, helped create a "people's permit," which students and community members signed to show their support.
"We use the same kind of health precautions that they use in commercial kitchens. We just do it on our own," Svingen said. "We're doing this for the community and by the community, so we're getting the community's permission to serve them. We don't need any politicians to tell us when we can and can't serve food."
Svingen and Cologne said Food Not Bombs understands temperature zones required for the safe distribution of food and the need for plastic gloves and other precautions.
"When we get the vegetables donated, we sort them and then we wash them," Cologne said. "We wash our hands right at the beginning before touching the food. We prepare it in a clean kitchen, and we're educated about the temperature danger zone."
Svingen said Food Not Bombs takes care to prevent the spread of germs.
"When we're serving we always use gloves for things. People that come up to us aren't allowed to grab their own food," he said. "We give it to them with the gloves, so we work really hard to isolate viruses, bacteria, and keep (germs) from spreading."
Senior Ian Colburn said he has no problem eating the meals served by Food Not Bombs.
"I've been coming to Food Not Bombs for probably five months now, and I have yet to get sick," Colburn said. "Matter of fact, it makes me feel good having a bowl of soup after class."
Colburn said Food Not Bombs brings people together and is important for people who may not be able to afford food.
"Just the fact that they can stand out here and offer food that would go to waste to people who are either hungry and can't afford it or people whom are just hungry - it's important," he said. "They're bringing people together. There's nothing better than sharing a meal. People can just sit down and talk, and it's just good to see an act of friendliness and kindness like this."
