FINDING a year-old can of soup at the back of the kitchen cupboard is not unusual, but this foodbank has made a shocking discovery.

In fact the Colchester Foodbank has given pride of place to its most bizarre donation yet - bags of pasta which went out of date 40 years ago.

New manager Michael Beckett said it was an interesting discovery, and decided to post a photo of the pasta on social media.

He thanked the public for their kind donations, but warned they were unable to pass on food that was out of date.

He said: “We have received quite old items before which were from the 80s, but this pasta is the oldest we have had.”

It is not known who donated the pasta as it came in a box with a number of other items within the last week.

Mr Beckett said: “We are delighted with any donations and we just want to make sure they are going to a good home.

“We give donations to people who need help and are in crisis, they get a three-day emergency box.

“We make a huge amount of difference, especially at Christmas time.”

The donations are sorted at the warehouse - they are weighed and each individual item is checked for faults.

It was during the routine checks that the pasta was found, with an expiry date of 1977.

He said: “We were thinking ‘wow’, this is the oldest thing we have ever come across.

“Forty years is quite a long time and it is the biggest example we have of people giving us out of date food.”

He said the foodbank gets out of date produce a few times a week, but it is usually only by a few days.

He added staff are keeping the pasta to see if they can find anoth - er donation that beats its age.