When the former BBC man Robin Aitken alerted The Oxford Times back in 2009 to his plans to create an Oxford Food Bank, it was impossible not to be impressed by both his passion and vision.

More than anything, it was the directness and simplicity of the scheme that struck a chord with our readers, some of whom would sign up as volunteers. Instead of sending tonnes of food reaching its sell-by date to the tip, why not deliver it to local people, who might just benefit from fresh fruit, vegetables and cakes?

What if food were collected from supermarkets and delivered to local charities for the homeless and drop-in centres for families, faced with reducing household spending to make ends meet?

For local supermarkets and food wholesalers it would mean a free and easy way of disposing of waste food, while also showing themselves to care about the environment and local community. Talk about win win.

What obstacles there were appear to have been quickly overcome by Mr Aitken and his team. They needed vans, volunteers and a sizable storage area and acquired them all.

Today they are able to handle three tonnes of food a week and have some 100 active volunteers, contributing ingredients to 1,000 meals daily. The charity’s frustration with two of the biggest names in food, Tesco and Marks & Spencer, this week is understandable.

Tesco, we are being told, has simply stopped leaving out food at its Cowley Retail Park store, leading to food bank volunteers having to depart week after week empty handed.

How ironic that Oxford Food Bank decided to reveal its disappointment just as Tesco was admitting that some 28,500 tonnes of food waste were generated in its stores and distribution centres in the first half of the year.

His frustration with Marks & Spencer is based on the health and safety procedures to ensure no “unsafe” M&S food ends up being eaten. In a way, for anyone with a knowledge of how the corporate world and food industry works, it is something of a miracle that Mr Aitken has achieved so much, driven by his simple philosophy “there is only sensible thing to do with food and that is eat it”.

Having secured the support of Tesco, who appeared in these pages praising the scheme, Mr Aitken has every justification to challenge the company’s apparent loss of interest in his charity, which continues to have to keep volunteers and vans on the road.

As a top journalist, he knows well enough the value of good PR and what amounts to paying lip service to recycling when he sees it.

But hopefully, he will be encouraged that both Tesco and M&S remain keen to work with Oxford Food Bank. Perhaps they just need a reminder that this marvellous but small charity that can only hope to go on relieving food poverty if others show equal commitment to keeping it simple.