This comes after we reported how a fourth distribution centre in Renfrewshire was launched after desperate families were forced to walk 10 miles to have a meal.

Renfrewshire foodbank will use the donated food to create emergency food parcels containing three days’ supply of nutritionally-balanced food which will be given to local men, women and children in crisis, with Tesco adding an extra 30 per cent to all customer donations.

Between April 1, 2014, and March 31, this year, 6,298 people were provided with three days’ emergency food by Renfrewshire Foodbank, making it the busiest in the country.

Supermarket collections are one of the main ways Trussell Trust foodbanks are stocked, and Elizabeth Alexander, the Renfrewshire manager, said she is “very grateful” for the ongoing support of the local community.

Tesco customers have donated an incredible 3.6 million meals during the sixth Neighbourhood Food Collection this summer. The figure is an increase of 13 per cent compared to last summer’s collection.

People in Scotland dug deep as 541,017 meals were donated across 53 stores during the three-day collection. This is the equivalent of enough food to feed every student at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities nine times.

David McAuley, Trussell Trust chief executive, said: “We are truly grateful for the amazing effort by Tesco store staff, customers, volunteers and foodbanks in this year’s summer Neighbourhood Food Collection.

“The donations will make a huge difference to foodbanks’ ability to not only provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food to people in need but also additional support to tackle the root causes of poverty. It is timely given the additional pressure on families of providing lunch time meals and child care during the summer school holiday months.

“I would like to say a special thank you to everyone at Tesco who help make this event such a success. Since the Neighbourhood Food Collection inception in the summer of 2012 Tesco customers have donated over 27 million meals to help feed people in crisis.

Food poverty continues to be a serious issue across the UK as figures published by The Trussell Trust this winter showed the number of people helped by foodbanks in the first half of the 2014-15 financial year is 38 per cent higher than numbers helped during the same period last year.

There has also been a significant increase in the amount of food customers are donating day in day out at in-store permanent collection points. Over 2.1 million meals worth of food were donated at permanent collection points in 507 Tesco stores in the first six months of 2015, almost as much as the whole of 2014 combined.