More help is needed to prevent families in the UK going hungry, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Justin Welby has backed a parliamentary report, to be released on Monday, which aims to end hunger in the UK by 2020.
The report is expected to call for a new publicly-funded body, known as Feeding Britain, to make this happen.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the archbishop said food was being wasted at "astonishing" levels, but hunger "stalks large parts" of the country.
'Ashamed to be hungry'He said he was left more shocked by the plight of UK's hunger-stricken poor people than by those suffering in African refugee camps, because it was so unexpected.
After describing scenes of a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he wrote: "... a few weeks later in England, I was talking to some people - a mum, dad and one child - in a food bank.
"They were ashamed to be there. The dad talked miserably. He said they had each been skipping a day's meals once a week in order to have more for the child, but then they needed new tyres for the car so they could get to work at night, and just could not make ends meet.
"So they had to come to a food bank. They were treated with respect, love even, by the volunteers from local churches. But they were hungry, and ashamed to be hungry.
"I found their plight more shocking. It was less serious, but it was here."
The parliamentary report is expected to call for bigger food banks to distribute more free food and advise people on how to claim benefits, a rise in the minimum wage, and the provision of free school meals during school holidays for children from poor families.
It is the work of an all-party parliamentary inquiry into hunger and food poverty, led by the Labour MP Frank Field and the Bishop of Truro, Tim Thornton.
'Intense political debate'The archbishop said the report makes practical recommendations that should be seized on by politicians and charities alike, seeking to bring people together from churches, food banks, the food industry and government.
He called for reforms that would allow food companies to pass on goods they could no longer sell.
The BBC's religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the archbishop's comments were "likely to add fuel to the already intense political debate over welfare and poverty".
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw tweeted: "More superb leadership from our Archbishop condemning scandal of food poverty in today's Britain & call to action."
Earlier this year 43 Christian leaders, including 27 Anglican bishops, signed a letter urging David Cameron to ensure people get enough to eat, saying "cutbacks and failures" in the benefits system were driving people to food banks.
The government has said it wants to help people "stand on their own two feet" by cutting welfare dependency.
Do you work for a food bank or have you made use of one? Do you agree with the Archbishop of Canterbury? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. If you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist, please include a telephone number.
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