Kirsten Oswald, Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire, has highlighted the release of new statistics from FareShare, the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger by minimising food waste. FareShare aims to tackle waste by the food industry and passes surplus food onto local charities where it can be used to support households struggling to afford meals.
The statistics released by FareShare showed that the equivalent of 120,300 meals, approximately 50 tonnes of food, had been redistributed in East Renfrewshire in collaboration with 7 local charities.
This comes after recent figures showed that, across the UK, 9.9 million people were experiencing food insecurity in April, which represents a 57% increase since January.
Kirsten has worked with Fareshare on their #FoodOnPlates campaign and is calling on the government to support their work by reinstating previously axed funding.
Kirsten said: “I congratulate FareShare on the work they have done to redistribute 50 tonnes of surplus food to support struggling families across East Renfrewshire. I thank FareShare for all their work in East Renfrewshire, and indeed across the whole country. “Cutting food waste is important as we strive to tackle the climate crisis. However, in a country as wealthy as ours, people should not be experiencing so much food insecurity that they become reliant on charitable support.
“Increasing food prices and energy bills will pile more pressure onto already struggling families, so I call on the UK Government to do more to support families during this cost-of-living crisis and to support Fareshare in their work to redistribute surplus food.”
Lindsay Boswell, FareShare’s CEO, said: “More than 2 million tonnes of good-to-eat food goes to waste on our farms and in our factories every year. Meanwhile, millions of people are experiencing food insecurity, with more and more people in East Renfrewshire being affected by the cost-of-living crisis."
"At a time of so much need, it is wrong that there is so much waste. That’s why we started our #FoodOnPlates campaign, and I’m incredibly grateful to Kirsten Oswald for her continued support in Parliament.”
