Fair food boost to hungry families

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has awarded £1.5 million for research to help provide better food for people in need in the New Forest, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.

The rising cost of living appears to be increasing the number of food-insecure households in the UK.

In 2023 to 2024, 7.5 million people were in food-insecure households every month.

This is an increase of 300,000 people from 2022 to 2023 and an increase of 2.5 million people from 2019 to 2020.

Low-income and disabled groups are at a disproportionately high risk of household food insecurity and its contribution to illness.

Professors Dianna Smith and Nisreen Alwan have been working for more than five years on mapping where people are most at risk of food insecurity and finding solutions to support families. The work was developed in collaboration with local government and food aid partners.

“Bringing together the key partners in food aid – civil society, local government and the communities – will enable us to have the best opportunity to source healthy food and get it where it needs to be. While we are in the position of needing to address food insecurity with surplus food, we want it to be a positive experience for people to access the highest quality food.” (Professor Dianna Smith)

The DIET and FRIEND projects were supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration Wessex (NIHR ARC Wessex) and form the foundation of this new research, FAIR-food.

Food Aid Inequality Rectified (FAIR-food) is a project based on their initial work, which will develop a new online platform to target high-quality food to food pantries and support community members to become researchers, identifying ways to improve the food pantries.

Demand on food pantries has significantly increased in the South. Data from the Southampton Food Aid Forum, which includes food pantries in the city, shows that the volume of food redistributed to those needing food aid rose sharply from 12,319 kgs in 2022 to 32,964 kgs in 2024.

Researchers are working with Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council, New Forest District Council and the Isle of Wight Council, plus 10 different food aid services in the region, to improve the food pantries in Southampton, the Isle of Wight and the New Forest.

Food pantries differ from food banks. Food banks are referral only, whereas food pantries are self-referral for those who need it and, for a small sum of about £5, people can choose a quantity of heavily discounted food.

Steve Johns from Southampton City Mission Marketplace , which runs food pantries in the city, commented:

“There is a sense of belonging, through the membership with the Marketplace. There is another aspect to this, beyond food; it is a place of community and friendship as well as providing food.”

The project is one of six announced by UKRI, which focuses on research that improves outcomes for people and places across the UK by identifying solutions that promote economic and social prosperity.

Professor Alison Park, Head of UKRI’s Creating Opportunities, improving outcomes theme, said:

“Everyone should have access to healthy, nutritious food but we know the number of food insecure households across the UK is increasing. These innovative projects will go a long way in helping us understand how to tackle food inequalities and what interventions really make a difference.”