Supermarkets only give 2% of unwanted food to hungry families and send the rest to be turned into biofuel because it is cheaper



Superma rkets sending 100,000 t onnes of surplus food to be turn ed into fuel

But at least 10 per cent of that is edible and could be handed to charity

Biofuel producers offer cheaper alternative due to government subsidies

Government inquiry slams the amount of food by-passing food banks

MP Frank Field calls for changes to system to help support charities



Families are going hungry while supermarkets are paid public money to turn tonnes of surplus food in biofuel, a new report has revealed.



Only two per cent of the estimated 400,000 tonnes of extra food produced by shops and restaurants each year is sent to charities, according to a government inquiry.



The other 98% is either dumped in landfill or turned into biogas using government subsidies of up to £70 per tonne.



Thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables are being thrown away every year by supermarkets as they believe their customers do not want to buy imperfect produce

T he Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty was told millions of pounds of public money is subsidising 'anaerobic digestion plants' which convert food into biogas, while charities miss out.



Labour MP Frank Field, who co-chaired the inquiry, has criticised the use of taxpayer's cash to destroy edible food, branding the scheme 'madness on stilts'.



His inquiry's report stated: 'The food industry should set itself a target of reducing the amount of surplus food disposed of in landfill, and turned into compost or energy, by 100,000 tonnes each year by the end of the next parliament.

'This should be achieved by preventing waste in retail and supply chains, and by redistributing surplus food through the voluntary sector. '



BINNED - THE GROWING MOUNTAIN OF BRITAIN'S WASTED FOOD Currently, an estimated 3.4 million tonnes of food is wasted every year by the food industry in the UK, before it reaches shops or restaurants. At least 10% of that waste is fit for human consumption, enough for 800 million meals. Tesco revealed last year that 68 per cent of its bagged salads, 48 per cent of its bakery goods and 24 per cent of its grapes go to waste.

British households also throw away around 4.2 million tonnes of food a year. Since 2003, the cost of food has increased at a greater rate than earnings, with the cost of a weekly shop increasing by 46%, while the average wage went up by only 27.9%.

FareShare, an organisation that resdistributes food to charities, says it has to charge supermarkets around £100 a tonne for food that is given to them to cover storage and transport costs.



Meanwhile, biogas companies were handed nearly £30million in subsidies from the Department of Energy and Climate change.



FareShare director Mark Varney told the Times: 'I'm up against that economic obstacle when I talk to the food industry and they say; "Well, actually, we have got an arrangement with this operator who comes and picks up the food".'

Mr Field has now called for the system to be changed to make given food to charity the cheapest option for the food industry.

He said: 'We're calling for a real focus on the millions of tonnes of surplus food that goes to waste each year in the food retail sector. Our proposals would save charities money, put downward pressure on food prices and provide healthier options to families relying on voluntary support.'

The inquiry found doubling the number of food given to charities could save them around £160million over the next parliamentary term.

Around 1.6million tonnes of food waste is used in Britain's 82 biogas plants every year as part of the Government's commitment to get at least 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.



But the agency helping to set up the plants has admitted some of the food used is edible.

Food charity FareShare says that, when it comes to asking supermarkets to hand over their surplus food, it is struggling to compete with government-subsidised biogas producers

Tesco has revealed that in the first six months of 2013 it generated 30,000 tonnes of food waste, of which 21 per cent was fruit and vegetables.

The supermarket donates around 2,300 tonnes of food to charity, much of which is past its sell-by date but still deemed safe.

Last month, a survey of executives of all major supermarket chains revealed top bosses ignore use-by and sell-by dates on their own food, with one manager branding the dates 'ridiculous'.

Waitrose announced earlier this week that it would start selling 'blemished' fruit and veg after strict EU rules on misshapen produce were relaxed.

