Food banks lower threshold for receiving food packages due to inflation

Food banks are lowering the threshold for receiving a food package, said Vice-President Tom Hillemans of the umbrella organization Food Banks Netherlands on Saturday. This is because the cost of living for people has risen due to inflation, among other things.

The food banks will look at the number of family members and the income versus the fixed costs of a household. A single parent with two children used to be eligible for a food package if less than 450 euros a month was left over for food and drink, for example. That amount is now 520 euros.

According to Hillemans, lowering the threshold will probably result in more people making use of the aid provided by the food banks. But it is not yet possible to say how many more people this will be.

The umbrella organization is concerned about whether food banks will continue to be supplied with sufficient food. Donors, including supermarket chains, are supplying less because they have taken measures against food waste. This leaves less leftovers for the food banks.

Last month, Food Banks Netherlands already announced that the total number of people who collect food from the food bank had increased by about 10 percent in the past two months. This includes elderly people with an AOW benefit, who were able to pay their fixed costs in the past, but are no longer able to do so.