“HIDDEN food” could be used to tackle hunger in the region, according to a food redistribution charity.

In the past year, FareShare provided charities and organisations in the North-East with more than 790,000 meals using food sourced from supermarkets and suppliers.

Its North-East centre has saved the local charity sector around £1.3m and helped to feed almost 5,000 people a day using surplus supermarket food.

However, the charity currently accesses just 1.5 per cent of surplus food from the UK’s food and drink industries, meaning the majority of so-called “hidden food” goes to waste.

Up to 400,000 tonnes of surplus food is edible, in date and could be used to provide up to 800m meals across the UK – the equivalent of 13 meals per person.

FareShare believe this food could be used to tackle poverty and hunger.

The charity’s CEO, Lindsay Boswell, said: “FareShare and its partners have been working with leading supermarkets and suppliers for over ten years to rescue good food from going to waste and redirect it to people in need across the UK including North East England.

“Over the past decade – UK wide – we’ve redistributed enough surplus to provide over 67m meals.

“However this is just the tip of the iceberg of what is potentially available and we could be providing so much more from this source.”

He added: “We have a huge challenge in the future in getting further into the supply chain to meet ever growing demand for our services but we have a solid and sustainable solution to food poverty which can help tackle an ever growing issue.”

For more information, visit fareshare.org.uk.