London, November 29: At least 100,000 British people are dependent upon food handouts, as they cannot afford to eat being hit hard by poverty and rising food prices.
A new food bank opens in Britain every week in order to deal with the increasing number of poverty-stricken people who have to rely on food parcels, the Sunday Express reported on Sunday.
The revelations come as a British Army veteran and his wife committed suicide earlier this month being tired of a “hand to mouth” life and walking ten miles to get food parcels from a soup kitchen.
The Trussell Trust, a charity providing tens of thousands of British people with food handouts, said it is being flooded with soaring demand for food parcels from across the country.
“There will always be people who need support, but now we are seeing poverty affecting people who never dreamed it would hit them, including young people and middle England,” said Mark Ward, Salisbury food bank manager at The Trussell Trust.
Charities have blamed the British government’s austerity measures and failure to control soaring food and fuel prices for the increase in the number of people relying on food banks.
The Trussell Trust has announced it will provide 100,000 people with food handouts in 2011-12, which is up from 60,000 in 2010-11 and 41,000 in 2009-10.
Furthermore, the British people are threatened with disease related to poverty and malnutrition as the number of people who cannot afford to pay for food is on the rise.
“Children are being denied fresh foods because families cannot afford to buy them. By early adolescence they will be affected by premature diabetes and signs of underlying heart disease,” said Professor Philip James, former government advisor on nutrition.
——-Agencies