More than eight tonnes of food has been donated to help people struggling to feed themselves and their families.

Shoppers donated a total of 22,948 meals at 18 Tesco stores across Barnet during the neighbourhood food collection, which will go to foodbank charity The Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity Fareshare.

The figure represents an increase of 13 per cent compared to last year’s collection in the borough.

Now in its fourth year, the nationwide initiative provides hot meals and food parcels to those living in food poverty, many who are parents struggling with food costs due to lack of free school meals over the summer holidays.

The collection, which took place over three days last week, raised a total of 422,395 meals in London.

David McAuley, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “We are truly grateful for the amazing effort by Tesco store staff, customers, volunteers and foodbanks in this year’s summer neighbourhood food collection.

“The donations will make a huge difference to foodbanks’ ability to not only provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food to people in need but also additional support to tackle the root causes of poverty. It is timely given the additional pressure on families of providing lunch time meals and child care during the summer school holiday months.”

Lindsay Boswell, CEO of FareShare, said: “Yet again we have been blown away by everyone’s generosity.

“The donations from this neighbourhood food collection will make a huge difference to these organisations’ ability to not only serve nutritious meals for people in need but also to provide additional support to help people back on their feet."