One in 8 people in the UK struggles to afford food – and the pandemic has resulted in many more families facing food insecurity, with 67% of charities providing emergency food aid saying they would have to continue, even as restrictions ease.

Despite this, it is cheaper for farmers to waste good-to-eat food than get it to charities putting meals onto people’s plates. France, which offers business incentives through reduced taxation for food redistribution, gets six times more unsold food to charities than the UK. 

WRAP estimates there is over 2 million tonnes of edible surplus food in the supply chain, with the majority found on farms.

The #FoodOnPlates campaign calls for funding of £5m a year to help farmers and food producers cover the costs of safely storing and transporting unsold food so it can be redistributed. This would enable the UK to double the amount of food delivered to those in need. Without it, 53m meals worth of food will be wasted.

FareShare chief executive Lindsay Boswell said: “Our network of frontline charities have been a lifeline for families during the pandemic, and, sadly, demand now remains at similar levels.

“It’s a scandal that good food is left to rot in our fields, thrown into biogas digesters or sent to landfill when so many families are still dependent on food aid in the wake of the crisis, with thousands more unable to afford healthy fruit and veg.

“Getting healthy food from farms into our most deprived communities will help tackle the ever-widening ‘nutritional gap’ between the richest and poorest in society.”