A landmark research study has revealed the excruciating extent of food poverty across Britain, where one in seven went hungry last year.

London, July 4 (RHC)-- The study by the Trussell Trust, which is an NGO and charity that works to end the need for food banks in the United Kingdom, reveals that 14% of all UK adults or their households experienced food insecurity in the 12 months leading to mid 2022, affecting an estimated 11.3 million people.

This would imply that at some point during this period they ran out of food or were unable to afford food, ate less, went hungry, or lost weight, due to lack of money.  The study further notes that despite the growth in the number of food parcels provided by food banks and independent providers, more than two thirds of people experiencing food insecurity did not receive food aid.

According to the Trust, the latest findings are just the tip of the iceberg and the shortage of money is not limited to just hunger pangs among the impoverished Britons.

The Trussell Trust report also says that working age adults are much more likely to need to turn to a food bank than pensioners. This is particularly the case with single adults living alone and those not currently in paid work.

Furthermore, families with children are at high risk of food insecurity. Nearly half (47%) of all households experiencing food insecurity include children under the age of 16.  It said the impact of poverty leads to worrying social isolation and loneliness, spiraling debt, and, a decline in physical and mental health.

It has been argued that food banks, like the Trussell Trust, are fulfilling a need that the government is supposed to satisfy.  Food banks are a community led response to need, so they're stepping into the gap in the absence of effective government policy.

It isn't sustainable in the long term, food banks are only meant to be a short term intervention so families, so high schools, can get back up on their feet again.\

Furthermore, a paper by the department of Development Studies at the University of Sussex reveals that nearly a quarter of the population of Britain experienced hunger as the new normal.