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A third of parents say their children are eating less fruit than they were last year, a new survey suggests.
Research from food waste charity FareShare found a quarter of parents said their children would eat less fresh fruit during the summer holidays - with poorer families unable to afford the type of meals that their children would usually get in school.
Of those surveyed by YouGov for the charity, 34 per cent of parents were buying less fruit now than a year ago as the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on household finances.
The survey comes after data from The Food Foundation earlier this year found that poorer families were forgoing vegetables and fruit in their weekly shops.
Of food insecure households surveyed in January, 60 per cent said they were buying less fruit than they do usually, and 44 per cent said the same for vegetables.
The charity estimated that 15 per cent of UK households are living in food insecurity - the equivalent of eight million adults and three million children.
One food charity, Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance, has issued an urgent plea for help after seeing a big increase in families asking for help.
Are you having to cut back on fresh fruit and veg due to high costs? Share your experience with holly.bancroft@independent.co.uk
With food costs rising, it said it has spent £110,000 on additional food to meet demand in the last year.
The food bank added: “We just don’t have the funds to keep spending £8,000 to £10,000 a month on food, including fresh fruit and veg that are so vital to help balance the nutrition of a food package.”
Debbie Fixter, manager of Sprouts Community Food Charity in Teeside, said: “We often have people telling us that they would love to be able to buy the fruits the children like but just can’t afford it.”
She added that the charity tries to provide fruit snacks to children and teach them about good eating habits.
George Wright, CEO of Fareshare, said it was “really worrying” that so many children were losing access to fresh fruit. The charity is calling on the government to partner with food redistrubtion initiatives to try and deliver the fruit and vegetables that is wasted on farms to families in need.
He added: “We need their support to help get more nutritious food to children and help give them the best possible start in life.”
The survey was carried out for Fareshare by YouGov. It surveyed 4,452 UK adults, of which 1,088 were parents with children aged 18 or younger. The figures were then weighted and are representative of all UK adults.
