More than 2,300 meals and food parcels are being handed out every month to people who can’t afford to feed themselves in Dundee, according to a new Scottish Government report.
First Minister Alex Salmond branded the revelations “unacceptable” as the research showed the number of people using the services in the city has rocketed recently.
A total of 13 services set up in Dundee by organisations such as the Trussell Trust, Salvation Army and Eagles Wings Trust served up an average of 700 food parcels and 1,660 meals every month.
The report says: “The overwhelming response from food aid providers in Dundee City was that demand for their services was increasing, particularly within the last six months.
“A Trussell Trust affiliated respondent noted that their food aid service had seen ‘a substantial increase…almost double the provision from last year, somewhere in the region of an 80% increase’.”
Mr Salmond said: “The volunteers at our foodbanks and soup kitchens across the country provide an invaluable lifeline.
“At this time of year, in particular, it is absolutely unacceptable that anyone in a country as prosperous as Scotland should have to rely on foodbanks.”
Ewan Gurr, Scotland development officer at the Trussell Trust, said many men, women and children were “living on a financial knife-edge”.