Food insecurity among food banks users during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany – what have we learnt and what should we do?

Abstract Background Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, up to 1.65 million people visited a total of 956 food banks called “Tafel” in Germany. The start of the pandemic and the associated first lockdown led to shortages in commercial food outlets and to considerable restrictions on the range of food banks. The aim of the study “Food INsecurity Among TAfel users” (FINATA) was to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity (FI) and its association with social support and food shopping behaviours among Tafel users during the pandemic. Methods A written and/or oral survey was conducted in 2020 and 2021 among a total of 985 Tafel users. In addition to descriptive analyses, regression analyses, stratified for 2020 and 2021, were conducted to investigate associations between FI and the other variables. Results Participants of 2020 (n = 565) and 2021 (n = 420) differed in several socio-demographic characteristics. Whereas the prevalence of moderate FI over the 30 days prior to the survey differed between participants of 2020 (21,6 %) and 2021 (6,6 %), the prevalence of severe FI was almost identical (3,9 % vs. 4,0 %). Variables being significantly (p < 0,05) associated with moderate/severe FI included being single vs. being married (2020: OR 4,89, 2021: OR 2,69), receiving at least half of food in the household from the Tafel (2020: OR 0,34), low vs. moderate/high social support (2020: OR 2,93), buying food in commercial food outlets at least once/week vs. less often (2021: OR 0,38) and time of travel to the most used commercial food outlet (2021: OR 1,04). Conclusions The social safety net during the pandemic failed to enable “all people to have (...) economic access to sufficient (...) food” in Germany. Future studies should investigate the relationship between social support, shopping behaviours and FI at the long-term. Food banks are recommended to introduce measures to improve the social situation of their clients such as cooperating with social cafés and restaurants.