Fresh food is off the menu at harvest festivals because of hygiene fears over fruit and veg Headteachers across the country say they cannot find organisations willing to accept fresh food donations Children are being encourage to bring in cans of soup or tinned meat instead Foodies have dubbed the move like celebrating ' Christmas without a tree' Fresh fruit and vegetables are no longer wanted at Britain's harvest festivals - because of hygiene fears. Traditionally, produce would be the centrepiece of harvest festival services in schools and churches and then passed on to the needy. But now many food banks and charities accept only tinned or packaged food. Headteachers across the country say they cannot find organisations willing to accept fresh food donations, even though charities report a sharp increase in the number of families and individuals in need. Freshly harvested: Carrots, beetrroot and Radishes are off the menu as food banks only accept tinned or packaged food Pete Mountstephen, chairman of the National Association of Primary School Headteachers, and head of St Stephen's Church of England School in Bath, said: "There is a problem for schools to collect perishable food because we can't distribute it. We support a homeless centre. They won't take fresh food so the children bring in tins of soup, beans or corned beef. There are worries about hygiene. Alexia Robinson, founder of British Food Fortnight, an organisation behind the staging of Westminster Abbey's first harvest festival service for 47 years on Wednesday, said: "It is a shame. A harvest festival without fresh produce is like having Christmas without a tree. Traditional centrepiece: Fresh offerings would once have been at the heart of many school and church services which would have then distributed the food to the needy