An open letter has called on the Chancellor to combat food waste in the UK, as £15m of funding committed by the previous Government has not been launched. The fund was meant to launch earlier this year but was put on hold due to the election, with the fund now hanging in the balance ahead of the Autumn Budget.

This food could instead provide up to 67 million meals and be redistributed to the thousands of charities and community groups across the UK. These include afterschool and breakfast clubs, homelessness shelters and older people’s lunch clubs.

Kerridge said: “These charities are the beating heart of their communities, and they need more feed to help support people in need. The Government needs to intervene and ensure that the staggering levels of good-to-eat food is turned into as meals for struggling families, rather than letting this food go to waste.”

These charities are struggling to keep up with demand, with eight in ten charities expecting need for their services to continue to rise in the next year. Almost half (43%) of the charities FareShare supports would likely have to close down without this food due to spiralling operational costs.

More than three million tonnes of good-to-eat food is wasted on UK farms every year, the equivalent of almost seven billion meals. Meanwhile 11 million people in the UK, including three million children are food insecure. FareShare works with the food industry to redistribute four meals every second to those who need it via their network of charities.

Kris Gibbon-Walsh, chief executive of FareShare, added: “The food redistribution sector helps transform surplus food into stronger communities. These local charities turn food that would otherwise go to waste into meals, providing a gateway to other essential services that support people in need.

"This fund is an incredible opportunity to rescue millions of tonnes of fresh produce from our farms, and help tackle the environmental problem of food waste for social good. Despite the announcement in February, the Farm Gate Waste Fund is in limbo while we wait for the Treasury to commit to this funding. But the frontline charities we support cannot afford to wait.

"The Prime Minister has said he wants to build a ‘society of service’, and Defra want to prioritise a zero-waste economy – this fund is a great first step. We are ready to work with the Government alongside the food redistribution sector to make these ambitions a reality.”