British supermarkets are donating a tiny fraction of their surplus food to charity compared with those in other European countries, it has emerged.
Retailers and suppliers in Spain donated 118,000 tonnes of food last year compared with only 5,900 tonnes given by their equivalents in Britain, according to an authoritative study. The food industry in France donated 100,000 tonnes, Italy 72,000 tonnes and Poland 64,000 tonnes.
Frank Field, the former Labour welfare minister who is leading an inquiry into food poverty, called on the government and supermarkets to work together to emulate the success of France and Spain in ensuring that surplus food went to poor families.
He said that other European countries had made the donation of food a cheap option for the industry