Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Food charity cuts ties with larders
A NATIONAL charity that distributes surplus food supplies to people in need has cut ties with two local larders amid a row over safety standards.
FareShare has severed its contracts with Food For Thought, a larder based at the Charleston Community Centre, and the Lochee Community Larder.
The charity says it had concerns over the safety of food handling at Lochee – but it has also severed the deal it has with the Charleston unit.
However Samantha Bruce, who works within both initiatives, says she and her team have complied with the charity’s requests to bring their procedures into line, however it is understood there has been a mix-up with FareShare receiving supporting paperwork.
Under the two-year-old agreement FareShare provided Charleston, and latterly Lochee, with fresh and tinned food sourced from supermarkets.
However, without the FareShare deal the charity has been forced to buy in tinned food to provide for those in need.
“I was really angry with them for cutting both agreements – there’s no reason for it at all,” she added. “They kept saying I wasn’t compliant.
“It took me weeks to get in writing what I wasn’t complying with and we would sort it. Any time we have realised we’ve had an issue we’ve taken action. And if we weren’t compliant, why would FareShare have worked with us in the first place?
“More than 500 people are going without food as a result of this.”
Activist group Unite the Community Tayside has also launched a petition asking FareShare to overturn the decision.
Union spokesman Michael Taylor said: “An extra and unanticipated strain has been placed. We will not stand by and see this vital community initiative fail.”
However, FareShare is standing its ground, saying it ended the deal due to concerns over food safety.
A spokeswoman for the organisation said: “FareShare Tayside and
Fife met with Lochee Larder on four occasions to support them to meet required food safety standards, but, unfortunately, did not receive confirmation that the required changes had been made.
“We also found evidence of two breaches of our food safety manual and, for that reason, have terminated Lochee Larder and its sister project Food for Thought’s contracts with FareShare.”
The larder is hopeful its contract will soon be re-instated.