A Criccieth food wholesaler is ramping up aid to struggling families with three ‘mercy missions’ a week.

Harlech Foodservice have sent out 10 truckloads of supplies worth £60,000, including bread, eggs and dairy products and even salmon and steak in the last two weeks.

Their latest drops to food banks across North Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire include 180 boxes of bread, over 10,000 eggs, 79 trays of yoghurts and 98 catering-size cooking sauces as well as bread roll and sponge cake mix.

Ten of the company’s fleet of delivery vans are now busy keeping food banks stocked up including the one at Pwllheli.

Harlech’s digital project manager Ceri Brown works with the team to coordinate the supply chain.

She said: “Lockdowns have of course resulted in excess stock with last minute government decisions resulting in additional wasted stock bought in to satisfy school contracts.

“We had to be prepared for the new school term in January but of course when schools were closed we were left with a huge amount of food which we needed to use.

“We are working closely with some incredible organisations to help people hit hardest by the pandemic and we wanted to share it out across our area of operation.

“As the lockdowns continue, it’s a real struggle for our purchasing team managing stock levels, ensuring we have enough stock to meet demand for those customers that are open, but not over buying.”

Care homes, who have been hit hardest by the pandemic, are also being supplied.

Ceri added: “We are looking for some more places to deliver to, especially those that can take chilled and frozen food and food approaching it’s best-before date. Not every food bank takes that so we are also keen to hear from those that do.”