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Food poverty 'on the rise'

Over a quarter of UK adults have skipped meals, used friends or relatives to provide food or just gone without over the last year, according to survey. A poll for Tesco found 27% found it harder to feed their family over the last 12 months.

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60,000 families relying on foodbanks this Christmas

At least 60,000 adults will rely of foodbanks to feed their families this Christmas, according to the Trussell Trust.

Chief executive Chris Mould dubbed fresh data exposing the UK's growing food poverty problem as a "deeply distressing reality".

The deeply distressing reality for Britain this Christmas is that thousands of families will struggle to put food on the table.

Some 60,000 people are likely to receive emergency food from Trussell Trust foodbanks in the two weeks over Christmas alone, including 20,000 children.

We're already meeting parents who are choosing between eating and heating, and rising fuel prices mean that this winter is looking bleak for people on the breadline.

– Chief executive of The Trussell Trust Chris Mould

Food situation worsens for 40% of UK households

Some 40% of UK households admitted their ability to put food on the table for their family had worsened over the past 12 months, according to new data.

A survey from Tesco, The Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare found:

  • 28% of adults had struggled to buy their regular amount of healthy and nutritious food over the last year.
  • 30% say they have either skipped meals, gone without or relied on family or friends for food.
  • Among those who experienced food poverty, 60% say they will go without heating to provide food.

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'More than a quarter' finding it hard to feed family

Over one quarter of adults has found it harder to feed their family during the last 12 months, research has shown.

At least 20% of adults have gone hungry so the rest of their family can eat, according to a survey. Credit: PA

At least 27% found it harder to put food on the table and a further 20% skipped a meal because they can not afford the ingredients.

Over a third, 37%, of UK households admitted to keeping the heating off to ensure that food is available for their children, according to data collected by Tesco, The Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare.

FareShare chief executive Lindsay Boswell said: "We're now supporting more than 1,000 frontline charities that offer a hot meal and invaluable support to 51,000 people every day.

"Alarmingly, one in five people turning to these charities for help are children under the age of 16."

Read more: Foodbank use inquiry call

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