The boss of a Scottish food charity has slammed profiteering English companies for short-changing desperate families.
Scottish Pantry Network CEO Mandy Morgan said she was shocked to see images circulated by crusading Manchester United star Marcus Rashford of firms giving limp food worth far less than the £30 that families were expecting.
Morgan’s photos of what is being offered via her organisation put the English catering firms – and the Tory government that pays them – to shame.
The Scottish Pantry Network gives members £30 worth of food for £5, using supplies that would otherwise go to landfill.
Morgan said: “I saw the photos of food packages that were supposed to represent £30 and I was shocked. It’s disgraceful.
“Our pantries are set up with the opposite ideals – giving families far more value than they could ever get in a supermarket, not less.
“I would like to think that this won’t happen in Scotland and I hope the government makes sure no families are treated like this.”
Aimed at eradicating the need for food banks and building “food resilience” in communities, the Scottish Pantry Network opened its first store in Ruchazie, Glasgow, in August last year.
It hit its three-year membership target in three weeks and now has more than 1100 members, who get up to £15 worth of food for every £2.50 they spend.
Morgan said: “We have people who are nervous about using us because they don’t think they are poor enough but that really isn’t the point.
"Every penny paid helps keep the enterprise going.
“They will be treated the same way as everyone else and that is the beauty of it.
"There is no stigma for people coming along for handouts because everyone is a member, they have all contributed and they all have the same status.”
Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken, who has backed the pantries, said: “The images circulating of the contents of food hampers provided by UK Government contractors are as degrading and dehumanising as they are disgraceful.
“We’ve made sure in Glasgow that along with food security comes dignity – the exact opposite of the shoddy Tory approach.”
