thumb|300px|Volunteers sort food at the [[Greater Boston Food Bank]]
A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that collects food for distribution to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food directly.
St. Mary's Food Bank was the world's first food bank, established in the US in 1967. Since then, many thousands have been set up all over the world. In Europe, their numbers grew rapidly after the global increase in the price of food which began in late 2006, and especially after the 2008 financial crisis began to worsen economic conditions for those on low incomes. Likewise, the inflation and economic crisis of the 2020s has exponentially driven low and even some middle income class consumers to at least partially get their food.
The growth of food banks has been welcomed by commentators who see them as examples of active, caring citizenship. Other academics and commentators have expressed concern that the rise of food banks may erode political support for welfare provision. Researchers have reported that in some cases food banks can be inefficient compared with state-run welfare.
Individuals in lower income areas in the United States who depend on food banks often receive foods that are highly processed and low in nutrients. Plus in the summer of 2025 President Trump signed into law the biggest cut in food stamps (SNAP) in the program's history.
Operational models
left|The warehouse of the [[Capital Area Food Bank|thumb]]With thousands of food banks operating around the world, there are many different models.
A major distinction between food banks is whether or not they operate on the "front line" model, giving out food directly to the hungry, or whether they operate with the "warehouse" model, supplying food to intermediaries like food pantries, soup kitchens and other front-line organizations. In the US, Australia and to an extent in Canada, the standard model is for food banks to act as warehouses rather than as suppliers to the end user, though there are exceptions. In other countries, food banks usually hand out food parcels direct to hungry people, providing the service that in the US is offered by food pantries.
In addition to this basic distinction, recent research comes to exemplify that many food banks are redesigning their warehouse and distribution models to support "nutrition-focused food banking," where inventory management, sourcing, and partner selection become organized around the idea of providing more nutritious foods rather than simply maximizing total volume distributed.
Another distinction is between the charity model and the labor union model. At least in Canada and the US, food banks run by charities often place relatively more weight on the salvaging of food that would otherwise go to waste, and on encouraging voluntarism, whereas those run by unions can place greater emphasis on feeding the hungry by any means available, on providing work for the unemployed, and on education, especially on explaining to users their civil rights.
In the US, cities will often have a single food bank that acts as a centralized warehouse and will serve several hundred front-line agencies. Like a blood bank, that warehouse serves as a single collection and distribution point for food donations. A food bank operates a lot like a for-profit food distributor, but in this case, it distributes food to charities, not to food retailers. There is often no charge to the charities, but some food banks do charge a small "shared maintenance" fee to help defray the cost of storage and distribution. Scholars have used operations research methods such as linear, mixed-interger, and dynamic programming to model these warehouse operations, with the overall goal of optimizing, routing, storage, and allocation decision and reducing costs and food waste.
For many US food banks, most of their donated food comes from food left over from the normal processes of for-profit companies. It can come from any part of the food chain, e.g. from growers who have produced too much or whose food is not sufficiently visually appealing; from manufacturers who overproduced; or from retailers who over-ordered. Often the product is approaching or past its "sell by" date. In such cases, the food bank liaises with the food industry and with regulators to make sure the food is safe and legal to distribute and eat.
Other sources of food include the general public, sometimes in the form of "food drives", and government programs that buy and distribute excess farm products mostly to help support higher commodity prices. Food banks can also buy food either at market prices or from wholesalers and retailers at discounted prices, often at a cost. Sometimes farmers will allow food banks to send gleaners to salvage leftover crops for free once their primary harvest is complete. A few food banks have even taken over their farms, though such initiatives have not always been successful.
Many food banks do not accept fresh produce, preferring canned or packaged food due to health and safety concerns, though some have tried to change this as part of a growing worldwide awareness of the importance of nutrition. As an example, in 2012, London Food Bank (Canada) started accepting perishable food, reporting that as well as the obvious health benefits, there were noticeable emotional benefits to recipients when they were given fresh food.
Summer can be a challenging time for food banks, particularly in regions where school children are usually given regular free meals during term time. Spikes in demand can coincide with periods where donations fall due to folk being on holiday.
Food pantries
thumb|Food shelf (pantry) in [[Sandstone, Minnesota]] Food pantries and food shelves provide food directly to people for household use. Unlike food banks, which collect, store, and distribute food to other organizations, pantries are the local points of service where people receive food.
The term food shelf is used in some states, especially in Minnesota. In many cases, food shelf means the same a food pantry. The name may change by region, but the work is the same.
Food pantries also support food banks in several ways. They report patterns in demand, help identify shortages, and share information about the kinds of food people need most. Many also organize food drives, recruit volunteers, and connect donors to the food bank network. In this way, they serve as an important link between food banks and the people who rely on them. Countries and regions in the international network include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. There are also several countries with food banks which have not yet joined the network, either because they do not yet meet the required criteria or they have not applied.
North America
Canada
In Canada, foodbanks underwent a period of rapid growth after the cutbacks in welfare that took place in the mid-1990s.
United States
;History
The world's first food bank was St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix, Arizona, founded by John van Hengel in 1967. By the mid-sixties, several states had ended the free distribution of federal food surpluses, instead providing an early form of food stamps which had the benefit of allowing recipients to choose food of their liking, rather than having to accept whatever happened to be in surplus at the time. However, there was a minimum charge and some people could not afford the stamps, leading to severe hunger. the first food bank was created with the help of St. Mary's Basilica, which became the namesake of the organization.
Food banks spread across the United States, and Canada. By 1976, van Hengel had established the organization known today as Feeding America. As of the early 21st century, their network of over 200 food banks provides support for 90,000 projects. Other large networks exist such as AmpleHarvest.org, created by CNN Hero and World Food Prize nominee Gary Oppenheimer which lists nearly 9,000 food pantries (1 out of every 4 in America) across all 50 states that are eager to receive surplus locally grown garden produce from any of America's 62 million home or community gardeners.
thumb|upright=1|[[Food Not Bombs, a food bank and distribution cooperative]]
In the 1980s, US food banks began to grow rapidly. A second response to the "rediscovery" of hunger in the mid-1960s had been extensive lobbying of politicians to improve welfare. Until the 1980s, this approach had a greater impact. Poppendieck says that for the first few years after the change, there was vigorous opposition from the left, who argued that state welfare was much more suitable for meeting recipients needs. But in the decades that followed, food banks have become an accepted part of America's response to hunger.
;Food aid for pets
Some US cities have organizations that provide dog and cat food for pets whose owners qualify for food assistance. For example, Daffy's Pet Soup Kitchen in Lawrenceville, Georgia, is considered the largest pet food aid agency in Georgia, distributing over 800,000 pounds of dog and cat food in 2012. Daffy's Pet Soup Kitchen was started in 1997 by Tom Wargo, a repairman who was working in an elderly woman's home when he noticed her sharing her Meals on Wheels lunch with her pet cat because she could not afford cat food. On-campus food pantries were available at 70% of State University of New York locations by 2019.
;After the 2008 financial crisis
Following the 2008 financial crisis, and the lasting inflation in the price of food that began in late 2006, there has been a further increase in the number of individuals requesting help from American and Canadian food banks. By 2012, according to Food Banks Canada, over 850,000 Canadians needed help from a food bank each month. For the United States, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana reported in 2012 that there were then 50 million Americans struggling with food insecurity (about 1 in 6 of the population), with the number of individuals seeking help from food banks having increased by 46% since 2005. According to a 2012 UCLA Center for Health Policy Research study, there has been a 40% increase in demand for Californian food banks since 2008, with married couples who both work sometimes requiring the aid of food banks. Dave Krepcho, Director of the Second Harvest Food Bank in Orlando, has said that college-educated professional couples have begun to turn to food pantries.
By mid-2012, US food banks had expressed concerns about the expected difficulty in feeding the hungry over the coming months. Rapidly rising demand has been coinciding with higher food prices and with a decrease in donations, partly as the food industry is becoming more efficient and so has less mislabelled and other slightly defective food to give away. Also, there has been less surplus federal food on offer. Additionally, there have been recent decreases in government funding, and Congress has been debating possible further cuts, including potentially billions of dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamp program). In September 2012, Feeding America launched Hunger Action Month, with events planned all over the nation. Food banks and other agencies involved hoped to raise awareness that about one in six Americans are struggling with hunger and to get more Americans involved in helping out.
;Food banks and COVID-19
The COVID-19 outbreak impacted European food banks since value chains were notably disrupted and food banks lacked the support of volunteers. Compared to 2019, the amount of food distributed increased in 2020. Possibly through an increase in people in need. At the same time, the deliveries of shelf-stable food decreased by 20% due to panic buying, especially at the beginning of the crisis.
;Health consequences
Food insecure individuals have turned to food banks, which in turn has led to a rise in obesity and diabetes within the food insecure community. By October 2014, Spain had 55 food banks in total, with the number who depend on them having increased to 1.5 million.
In Belgium, food banks helped about 121,000 people in 2012. That was an increase of about 4,500 compared with 2011, the biggest increase since the start of the 2008 crisis. Belgian food banks account for about 65% of all food aid given out within the country.
The number of food banks has increased rapidly in Germany, a country that weathered the crisis relatively well, and did not implement severe austerity measures. In 2012, professor Sabine Pfeiffer of the Munich University of Applied Sciences said there has been an "explosion" of food bank usage.
United Kingdom
thumb|Barnet Food Hub, supplying food banks in the London Borough of Barnet. March 2021.
thumb|Food parcels given out by the Trussell Trust from 2005/06 to 2019/20
In 2022 there were over 2,572 UK food banks in the UK.
Professor Jon May, of Queen Mary University of London and the Independent Food Aid Network, said statistics showed a rapid rise in several food banks during the last five years.
Though food banks were rarely seen in the UK in the second half of the twentieth century, their use has started to grow, especially in the 2000s, and have since dramatically expanded. on the 2008 recession and the Conservative government's austerity policies. These policies included cuts to the welfare state and caps on the total amount of welfare support that a family can claim. The OECD found that the number of people who answered yes to the question "Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?" has decreased from 9.8% in 2007 to 8.1% in 2012, with Spectator editor Toby Young speculating in 2015 that the initial rise was due to both more awareness of food banks, and Jobcentres referring people to food banks when they were hungry.
Rachel Loopstra, lecturer on nutrition at King's College London and food insecurity expert, said: