Foodbank applauds meal milestone

Foodbank has marked a recent milestone: the distribution of 200 million meals in 10 years to Australians in crisis.

The national food relief charity said the milestone was testament to the unsung generosity of Australia’s food producers and retailers.

Foodbank said this was equivalent to feeding Australia’s population ten times over. Foodbank has grown steadily since it was first established in NSW in 1992. Last year it provided food for 39 million meals which was a 23 per cent increase on the prior year.

“The Australian food and grocery industry is the quiet hero when it comes to food relief in this country providing over $180 million worth of supplies annually to Foodbank. Our donors are constantly looking for new ways to help us in spite of the difficult economic circumstances that are impacting their businesses,” said Jason Hincks, CEO of Foodbank Australia.

“With their help during these tough times we’ve seen a four fold increase in the volume of food distributed in the last decade, while at the same time achieving an improvement in the variety of that food such that 78 per cent of what we distribute is now key staple food.”