“We foresee that about 60,000 beneficiaries are to be supported in this programme" but "about 64,000 are identified" and 52,979 are receiving food every month, the secretary of state for social security, Cláudia Joaquim, said in a session of parliament's committee on employment and social security.

According to Joaquim, the remaining beneficiaries are to receive a hamper of food within “a month, two at the most".

She said that between October of last year and February this year a total of 1,857 tons of food was distributed in 134 locations around the country.

The distribution carried out in February included 15 items per hamper, with each monthly hamper containing on average 24 kilos of food.

The issue of food hampers was raised by deputies Carla Tavares of the governing Socialist Party and António Carlos Monteiro of the opposition People's Party. The latter criticised what he said was the "fiasco" of the programme's implementation, which he said “reveals complete social insensitivity”.

In response, the secretary of state said that “the programme's execution can be seen by the foods that reach people at each moment”. In 2014 and 2015, under the previous, right-of-centre government of which the PP formed a part, she said, an average of 1.5 kilos of food per month was handed out to beneficiaries.

She also said that the current hamper is "nutritionally balanced", under the guidance of health officials, and not just a "Christmas hamper".

The programme is being implemented with the help of a network of 135 partners around the country, as was as more than 600 entities charged with storing and distributing the food.

The hampers' contents include frozen meat, fish and vegetables, and aim to cover 50% of beneficiaries' daily nutritional needs.

According to the most recent official survey of living conditions, in 2016 more than 18.3% of Portugal's population was at risk of poverty.