A regional daily has declared a food emergency after revealing around 55,000 people on its patch had recently gone a full day or more without eating.

The Birmingham Mail and its Birmingham Live sister website have launched a new campaign called ‘Food SOS’, which calls on volunteers to donate goods, time and money to rectify the problem.

New research by the Food Foundation thinktank found at least one in 20 people in Birmingham had gone a full day or more without eating in April, while an estimated one in seven are classed as “food insecure” – not certain about their next access to food.

The new campaign, launched on the Mail’s front page on Wednesday, is being run in partnership with the local food justice network and the Active Wellbeing Society.

Posting on Twitter, editor Graeme Brown said: “Food poverty in the West Midlands is alarming – and getting worse.

“We asked the people feeding our hungry how we could help and that’s how Food SOS was born.

“If you can, give food or money – it’s desperately needed.

“We’ll remain in this partnership with food banks and others feeding the hungry of people in our area for as long as it takes – which, sadly, I think will be a very long time.”