While I agree that the food thing is neither here nor there, I didn't find the warning absurd. Once you've been through one of these difficult cases and seen the impact that it can have on the other employees it's hard to unlearn that lesson of caution.

This person needs social and professional help, and the situation is very unfortunate. But based on the content of the OP if you bring them into your workplace (the assumed context here in this particular thread) without those two things then you should be sure you know what you're doing.