Yahoo News Campaigners slam 'inedible' food given to asylum seekers in budget hotels
The images, which showed food including burgers, chicken rolls and kebabs, were taken in two hotels near Bristol that have been commandeered by the Home Office.
Campaigners have criticised food being served to asylum seekers in budget hotels as 'inedible' and 'appalling' after images of the meals surfaced online.
The images, which showed food including burgers, chicken rolls and kebabs, were taken in two hotels near Bristol that have been commandeered by the Home Office.
A campaigner who shared the pictures said the people living there were scared to complain, so they raised the issue on their behalf.
Between 100 and 150 men are living in one hotel south of Bristol, with their wives and children in a second location nearby.
Residents are given £8.24 a week to buy items such as clothes and toiletries. They are not allowed to work or earn money themselves.
A visitor to the facility said they wanted to share images of the food to give an insight into the conditions at the hotels.
The source said: "This food is brought in every day. It comes packaged up, and is cold, and they have to heat it up in a microwave in their room."
They went on: "There's no other option, and the most frustrating thing about it is that the hotel has a kitchen, but it's locked. They have no other way to provide themselves with food at all.
"Many of them say it's pretty inedible.
"They don't want to complain about it, they have hopes that they can be granted refugee status and make a new life for themselves in this country, but we feel like complaining about it on their behalf, because it's pretty appalling."
The £8.24 weekly budget is given to cover everything from toiletries to transport.
The campaigner added: "These are very often people that have been traumatised, escaped from wars or persecution, and now they are being held in what is essentially an open prison, where their punishment is being bored, left to do nothing, and be given terrible food to eat, with no means or tools to cook for themselves, or make things better for themselves."
Many of those in the hotels have fled from persecution in Iran, the takeover of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the civil war in Syria or war and famine in east Africa.
"There's a lot of misinformation being put out there about how these people are living in some kind of luxury, just because they are being put up in a hotel, but the reality is very different," the source said.
"We just wanted to share the pictures they have taken of the food, just to show what it's like on a daily basis."
There have been regular complaints about the standard of food given to asylum seekers in hotels around the country.
Last year, the Home Office defended its practice, after GPs in Essex said children were failing to grow properly because of the poor quality and quantity of food they are given in that area.
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A Home Office spokesperson said: "Asylum seekers in hotels are provided with three meals a day, as well as a weekly allowance and additional provisions for families with a baby or toddler.
"The food provided in asylum hotels meets all the NHS Eatwell standards as well as responding to all cultural and dietary requirements.
"Where concerns are raised about any aspect of the service delivered in a hotel we work with the provider to ensure these concerns are addressed, while asylum seekers have access to 24/7 helpline to raise any concerns they have and are able to make formal complaints which will always be followed up."
