OTTAWA – Canadians devastated by the recession are turning to food banks in record numbers.

Results of the HungerCounts 2009 survey, released Tuesday, show that food banks across the country helped almost 800,000 individuals in March, representing an increase of 120,000 or 20 per cent more than March 2008.

"This is the largest increase in food bank use on record," Katherine Schmidt, executive director of Food Banks Canada, told reporters.

The need for food banks increased in every region with the biggest jump in Alberta, which experienced an increase of 61 per cent.

"It is unacceptable that, for most of the past decade, more than 700,000 people every month have needed help from food banks just to get by," Schmidt stated.

She said it difficult to understand how, in such a prosperous country as Canada, 2.4 per cent of people have to count on food banks to get by.

Schmidt urged Ottawa to implement a national poverty prevention and reduction strategy. She noted that 50 per cent of food banks are run solely by volunteers and that one-third are underfunded.

People who use food banks are given enough food for three or four days and are limited to about six visits a year.

"We are seeing an increase in the number of people who come to food banks ... (while) we are seeing a slight decline in support for food banks," Schmidt said.