Oxford food banks facing 'critical shortages' after flooding

SOFEA, a major distributor of surplus food, has had to shut its Didcot warehouse after severe flooding.

This has halted deliveries until at least mid-next week, leaving community food banks like Oxford Community Action (OCA) and Oxford Mutual Aid (OMA) struggling.

OCA was only able to hand out roughly a fifth of its usual food parcels at its weekly pop-up food bank on Wednesday, November 27, meaning more than 100 people were turned away.

An Oxford Mutual Aid volunteer (Image: Oxford Mutual Aid) Hassan Sabrie, of Oxford Community Action, said: "We have never faced a crisis like today.

"We were already struggling with supplies, and now we simply don’t have the food to give to people coming to our doors for help."

Oxford’s food banks rely heavily on surplus redistribution from charities like SOFEA, which collect unsold food from large retailers.

Daniel Cairney, of Oxford Mutual Aid, said: "This disruption highlights how fragile our emergency food systems are.

"We urgently need support to ensure no one in our community goes hungry."

Community groups are calling for immediate action to source emergency food this week from local authorities, supermarkets, and shops.

Flooding at SOFEA's Didcot warehouse (Image: Sofea) They are also asking for longer-term action to address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity.

Both OMA and OCA’s food redistribution services were initially set up in 2020 as an emergency response to the pandemic.

However, they have recently seen an even greater need and demand for their services than at the height of the pandemic.

They have also seen many new faces coming to them for support, including people working multiple or full-time jobs but still struggling to access essentials.

In response to the ongoing challenges, OCA, OMA, and other local partners in the OX4 Food Crew have been exploring collaborative solutions to build more sustainable food support systems.

Among these is the idea of piloting social supermarkets and affordable food clubs, which over time could leverage the collective buying power of communities to build up access to affordable food.

These would offer a more autonomous, stigma-free, sustainable option for food access while providing a more nutritious and culturally appropriate range of food, the organisations said.

They also said it would help to foster greater community resilience by allowing groups to buy, store, and distribute exactly what their communities need, making them less vulnerable to situations like the one they are facing this week.

The community food banks are also calling on local authorities, donors, and retailers to step in with urgent support and emergency food supplies.