Each week, the Stroudwater Food Pantry van pulls up to several local Hannaford stores to load boxes overflowing with produce, bakery items and meat.

The donated food has become a critical resource for food pantries across the state trying to keep up with an increasing need for assistance.

“It provides us a steady stream of food,” said Doug Horner, director of the Stroudwater Food Pantry in Portland. “Demand is up and it just keeps going up.”

Hannaford donated 29 million pounds of rescued food — including 13 million in Maine — last year, an increase of 15% since 2022, according to the company. Through the company’s Fresh Rescue program, stores cull their produce, bakery, meat department and other areas each day of food that has imperfections or is nearing sell-by dates, but is still good to eat.

The increase in donations comes as more Mainers are struggling to afford groceries. Heather Paquette, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank, said the state’s food insecurity rate has jumped to 13.8%, the highest in New England. Last fall, 20,000 people in the state lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits after the federal reconciliation bill was passed, she said.

Paquette said Good Shepherd often hears from its 600 partner programs across the state that “lines are longer than they used to be (and) enrollments are higher than they’ve ever been before.”

The Stroudwater Food Pantry, Horner said, has seen a 10% increase in clients since the beginning of the year.

Good Shepherd distributed 47 million pounds of food last year, including the 13 million pounds from Hannaford. Paquette said Hannaford’s donations account for half of the food collected from retailers.

Paquette said Hannaford’s program “provides a steady source of high-quality free food” for programs across the state that serve more than 190,000 Mainers living with food insecurity.

Jocelyn Blais, the produce manager at the Hannaford on Payne Road in Scarborough, spent part of Wednesday morning culling bins of citrus. As she picked through displays, she pulled out fruit with imperfections or that would need to be eaten soon.

After a few minutes, the box balanced on a cart next to her was overflowing with large oranges, limes and packages of grapes for the Stroudwater Food Pantry.

“Most of it is still edible, just not the perfect quality we look for to sell,” Blais said. “It’s nice that we’re able to get it to people who need it.”

Hannaford initially focused its food rescue efforts on fresh produce, but expanded recently to include shelf-stable products, according to the company. While the supermarket chain has donated food for years, in 2025 it worked with Good Shepherd and its network to coordinate routine pickups at 68 stores in the state.

Pantry directors in southern Maine said the food they pick up from Hannaford, Shaw’s, Walmart and other local stores and bakeries has helped them keep up with the need in their communities.

At the Bath Area Food Bank, food rescued from Hannaford stores in Brunswick and Topsham helps feed more than 500 families each month, said Executive Director Kimberly Gates.

Volunteers from the Biddeford Food Pantry collect food from two Hannaford stores, as well as Walmart, Target and several local bakeries.

“Without their help, we’d be in dire straits,” said Don Bisson, the pantry’s director.

Last year the pantry spent $179,000 on food from Good Shepherd and Bisson anticipates that will increase to $210,000 this year. The pantry is now serving 27% more people than last year, when 7,800 individuals took home food, he said.

“We depend on the people who give us food for free to make this work,” Bisson said.

The South Portland Food Cupboard, which recently moved into a new space, has seen an increase of 48% in individuals and 28% in families coming into the pantry since the beginning of the year. It’s expensive to keep up with that demand, but food rescue makes it possible, Executive Director Dwayne Hopkins said.

The pantry gets about 60% of its food through Hannaford’s program and also receives food donations from local bakeries.

“It makes a huge difference. That’s food we don’t have to buy,” he said. “We’ve been able to feed an individual for a month for $20 because of those donations.”