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Food for the hungry in Peru - 15th October 2021

In Peru, helpers at food centres are asking markets and supermarkets for unwanted food. They need it for hungry people.

In Lima, the capital, there are 2,300 soup kitchens, which provide food for 250,000 families. This number is going up daily. 30 percent of the population now use the kitchens.

This group near Lima's main market is asking to collect food. This can be used in soup kitchens. One helper explains why.

Javier Panauka Merma: "Unfortunately, with these price increases, gas, petrol, electricity, people are really starving. Many neighbours have nothing to eat at the moment, the oil is too expensive. The soup kitchens can't cook anymore."

Every day, a huge amount of food is thrown away in the main market and only five percent is reused. Officials are worried. If soup kitchens collect the food, then this will attract crowds. Crowds are a bad idea in the middle of Covid-19.

But supporters of the soup kitchens are now hoping for a meeting with the mayor.

Ericko Tueroconza: "Food recovery is what is not sold but cannot be thrown away. There are still products that are edible and that can be used in soup kitchens and that is why this recovery is favoured by soup kitchens to appease hunger."

If the mayor does not help them, thousands of people will be without food. Many of them will be young children.