An extra 200 people relied on food parcels in Moray compared with the same time last year.
More than 270 children received packages put together by Moray Foodbank between April and September – a jump of 120 from 2015.
The total amount of referrals to the group for three-day parcels increased from about 700 in 2015 to 928 over the same six months this year.
Yesterday the increases were slammed as “shameful” by Moray MP Angus Robertson.
Gilbert Grieve, who collects statistics for Moray Foodbank, said: “We see the same reasons for people needing them again and again.
“It’s either changes or delays to benefits that are leaving people with no money but we also get a lot of people referred from homeless services.”
Mr Grieve explained the group currently supported about 2% of the region’s population, which is about the same as the rest of Scotland.
Holiday clubs were run in Keith during the school break last month after an increase in referrals was seen during the summer.
Mr Robertson welcomed the release of the Trussell Trust figures as a way to investigate further ways of tackling poverty.
He said: “These figures are simply shameful. They expose the utter failure of the Tory austerity agenda.
“The fact that food bank use continues to grow is a damning indictment of the UK Government’s record, which should leave the Tories deeply ashamed.
“Organisations like the Moray Foodbank do an excellent job on providing for those who need it but they should not exist and I know from speaking to volunteers that they would rather they didn’t have to provide such a service.”
Parcels are restricted to three per person during a six-month period.
Mr Grieve said: “We tend to come in for emergency intervention before other agencies step in, whether it’s because they’re homeless or they just can’t afford to feed themselves.
“We don’t see people coming back week after week looking for food parcels.”
