'People have been panic buying with no concern for fellow citizens'

Picture courtesy of: Ravage Productions Photography

The Barnsley-based firm estimates the amount of food thrown away by householders has risen by around 30 per cent in the past two weeks as goods that had been stockpiled are discarded.

Jonathan Straight, brand spokesman for Approved Food, said: “Few would disagree that life in the UK has changed beyond recognition.

“People have been panic-buying food and household products with no concern for their fellow citizens or indeed their own wellbeing.

“The elderly and vulnerable have found shelves bare and NHS workers returning from long shifts caring for the sick have found nothing to eat. Staples like pasta, toilet roll and hand sanitiser have been unnecessarily stockpiled as if the world was about to end.

“In the four weeks leading up to the lockdown, supermarket sales were up by more than 20 per cent, amounting to almost £2bn, the biggest sales for March in history.

“Shoppers made almost three additional shopping trips against what might be expected in a normal year.

“Big retailers were slow off the mark with rationing and online shopping quickly went into meltdown.

“The industry was unprepared, did not have suitable contingency planning in place and took far too long to react.”

He said that while store cupboard essentials will keep for months, if not years, fresh items such as fruit and vegetables, bread and dairy will not.

Mr Straight added: “Information from my friends at the Wakefield Sharehouse, a social enterprise distributing repurposed food, suggests a similar trend with their refuse contractors claiming a 30 per cent increase in food waste tonnages in recent days.

“For people to buy this food when they didn’t need it is despicable, especially when others have gone short. To then throw it away is unforgivable.”

Approved Food has 40 employees at its base in Barnsley.

Mr Straight said: “This crisis is highlighting both the best and the worst of British society. My message is simple. Buy what you need, eat what you buy and preserve anything that is left over. We owe this to ourselves and to each other.”