BERLIN — A German food bank is to begin considering non-German applicants again next week, after setting off a national debate on refugees and poverty by deciding to bar any more foreigners from signing up for its service.

The food bank, in the western city of Essen, found itself at the center of a storm that brought it international media attention, vociferous support from some Germans — reflected in increased donations — and a public rebuke from Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Its case became a talking point in the continued conversation over the country’s decision, three years ago, to welcome more than a million refugees. Jörg Sartor, volunteer director of the food bank, the Essener Tafel, said he had made the initial policy change in part because the proportion of foreigners among the organization’s users had risen over those years to three-quarters of its clients from one-third.

But on Wednesday, Jochen Brühl, the chairman of the national Tafel organization, which oversees a network of 934 food banks, appeared keen to play down both the initial decision and the reversal.