We finally know what happens to all the leftover food on Masterchef.

Image via Channel Ten.

It’s the question almost every TV lover has pondered: what happens to all the leftover food and ingredients on Masterchef?

Of course, conspiracy theories abound. Is it all hidden in Matt Preston’s cravat? Do the cast and crew get to feast after the show? Or do they just have one giant food fight?

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Well, we finally have an answer, and it’s better than any theory we could dream up ourselves. (Post continues after gallery.)

The bulk of the fresh produce we see on the show is delivered to SecondBite, a charity that provides fresh, nutritious food to people in need across Australia. MasterChef provides the company with anywhere between a few boxes to a palette load of food, depending on the challenge.

SecondBite was founded in 2005 by Simone and Ian Carson, who decided to take action on the issues of good food going to waste while thousands of people are going hungry. The company has redistributed 6.5 million kgs of fresh food, which equates to a massive 13 million meals.

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Around 75 per cent of the food collected by SecondBite is fruit and veggies. Masterchef provides fruits and vegetables, as well as proteins and dairy products.

“If the focus is on fruit and vegetables, there’s generally a simple rule of thumb in supermarkets. They put themselves in the mind of the shopper. Would a shopper be willing to buy this? If they think the answer is no, then it won’t be sold. But if the produce manager would still eat it, then SecondBite would be willing to collect it and distribute it to those in need,” Tony Whitford from SecondBite told News Corp.

The rest of the food that doesn't go to Secondbite is used for recipe testing for the Masterchef website, as well as going to the contestants.

Considering about eight billion dollars of food is wasted in Australia each year, and there are around two million Australians struggling to put food on the table, SecondBite is a much needed resource. They provide close to 40,000 meals per day for people around Australia.

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The food is made up into food parcels, dine-in meals and school breakfast and lunch programs.

You can read more about SecondBite and all the incredible work they do here.

It's great to see shows like Masterchef being conscious of food wastage — and it's important we take measures to do the same in our own homes. Making your groceries last, rather than ending up in the bin, is simpler than you'd expect. Try these great, easy food saving tips from I Quit Sugar author Sarah Wilson: