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By the end of 2016, it is projected that food banks across Europe will hit a new sad record number of free meals distributed to poor people. In France, in 2015, the organizations have collected 105,000 tonnes of food i.e. the equivalent of 210 million meals which were distributed to the neediest people. In the UK also the demand for food parcels continues to rise: nearly 1'200.000 of such food parcels, which provide 3 days of ration, were distributed in 2015. Even more alarming, a recent report stressed that in the UK around 20% of parents with children aged 5 to 16 would skip meals over the school holidays to be able to feed their children properly (Dr Garratt Oxford). Europe as a whole, including Germany, is affected by this totally unacceptable situation. Latest available data for the EU is significant. More than 120 million people in the EU -of a population of approx. 550 million inhabitants- are at risk of poverty or exclusion. These numbers are particularly damning for the European authorities in a continent that calls itself the largest trader in the world! And this means that roughly 20% of the population is in precarious situation. But even more distressing is the fact that among this population 27% are children, 20% are over 65 and 9% are people with a job. The drop in unemployment at European level is good news. But obviously, this upturn will not be sufficient to solve the problem of precariousness and of exclusion. Today, most experts are pessimistic and think that the increase in the use of food banks throughout Europe will continue.

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