The source of their food is mainly donated by organizations and private individuals. Banks, fast food chains, hotels, supermarkets and food suppliers responded by donating cooked food, dried food and meal coupons, or selling food at special prices.

Food banks originated in the United States to reduce waste caused by overproduction, and they spread to Europe through Canada. The reason for this is that in developed countries in Europe and the United States, waste and hunger are a coexisting phenomenon. On the one hand, due to the great abundance of material, there is a large amount of waste in society.

For example, supermarkets need to spend a lot of money on processing and destroying food that is about to expire but cannot be sold; the processing of large quantities of surplus agricultural products also requires a lot of manpower and financial resources.