Store feed needy with 61,508 meals

TESCO has donated 61,508 meals of surplus food in Stockport, the supermarket has revealed.

The food has been donated through the Community Food Connection scheme it operates with food redistribution charity FareShare.

Every Tesco store in the UK participates in the scheme, which is celebrating five years of helping communities across the country. Each month more than a million meals of food are donated. So far 50 million meals being donated across the UK.

Since the start of the pandemic almost 700 new groups have signed up to receive food from the scheme, helping to respond to the needs of communities across the UK.

FareShare’s Chief Executive Lindsay Boswell said the scheme, the largest of its kind in the UK and believed to be the largest in Europe, was making a real difference. She said: “We are delighted that Tesco has reached this milestone – donating the equivalent of 50 million meals is no mean feat and has gone such a long way in supporting thousands of charities and community groups up and down the country,” he said.

“The scheme is a real game-changer for organisations working with the vulnerable, allowing even more people to access good to eat food which would otherwise go to waste.”

The scheme works by pairing charities and community groups with their local Tesco store.

At the end of each day a store colleague works out which food is likely to be unsold and then uses a speciallydeveloped app to tell a local charity or community group what food can be collected.

To find out more about Community Food Connection visit: tescoplc.com/community