The Children's Society and Bail for Immigration Detainees have received reports that some families at the centre are sleeping in the corridors and rejecting food because of their treatment in the centre.
The charities have been told that staff have forcibly removed families from the family wing in front of children.
The Home Office confirmed that "a small group of people" were refusing the prepared food distributed by staff, but stressed the people involved in the protest had access to and were obtaining food from the centre shop.
A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre is calm and operating normally. A handful of detainees who claimed they were refusing food have been eating from the centre shop.
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