Supermarket food bank donations: What items can be donated?

A group of teenagers have started a national campaign to encourage shoppers to donate to food banks.

The friends came up with an idea that involves labels on shelves which will be shown in Sainsbury's supermarkets across the country.

The labels identify 'priority items', the kinds of foods that last a long time and are vital for food banks.

The charity Trussell Trust runs food banks - which give out emergency hampers to those in need.

They say that there are many children whose family can't always afford things. For those families, food banks are really helpful to make sure children and adults eat properly. The trust also accept essential non-food items such as bathroom products.

As part of a National Citizen Service (NCS) initiative, which aims to encourage good work in the community, the teenagers thought of their shelf idea while visiting their local shop in Exeter.

While in the supermarket, the group noticed shoppers were seeing food bank donation bins after they had finished their shopping, meaning it was too late to buy products that could be donated.

The teenagers spoke to the store manager and suggested putting the signs up on shelves. After taking their advice and including the shelf signs idea, the supermarket saw donations to the food bank triple as a result.

Amber Broad one of the teenagers involved in the NCS scheme says "People didn't know what to donate, and the food bank would end up getting beans all the time."

Mark Richardson, Exeter food bank manager says this idea is really helpful: "Every food bank is in the same situation, we get donations we don't need, people don't realise what we do need."

Sainsbury's have worked closely with the teenagers to develop the idea and the labels will now be displayed in Sainsbury's stores across the UK.

Have you or your family or friends ever donated to a food bank? Let us know what you think of these new signs by commenting or email us at [e-mail]