The food pantry is a project of the Zagreb city authorities, the Zagreb Red Cross and the Zagreb Archdiocese Caritas charity, supported by seven retailers.
The income threshold for users of the food pantry is HRK 1,700 per family member or HRK 2,000 for singles. City official Visnja Fortuna said, however, that social workers would be able to decide on their own who to send to the food pantry, irrespective of the income threshold.
The Red Cross and Caritas in Zagreb currently have a database with around 2,500 users of the food pantry. The number of users is expected to grow.
Packages to be distributed in the food pantry will consist of food products, cleaning agents, toiletries and the like.
"On the one hand, we have here a social problem and on the other hand, a lot of food in our country is thrown away. According to some statistics, as much as 400,000 tonnes of food, worth about four billion kuna, is thrown away annually," Deputy Mayor Sandra Svaljek said while opening the food pantry.
Zagreb's first food pantry is located in the neighbourhood of Gajnice.