Tesco commits to providing 7 million meals a year to food charities
Tesco has confirmed that it will provide the equivalent of seven million meals a year to more than 1,000 charities across the UK through a strengthening of its partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare.
The news comes as figures published today by FareShare show the organisation is facing record levels of demand for its services with a 15% increase in just six months.
To help meet the rising demand, Tesco said it will divert all surplus fresh food from its distribution centres and online grocery centres to FareShare. This will amount to more than 2,300 tonnes, enough for seven million meals each year.
Produce provided to the charity will include items such as chicken, peppers, apples and other fresh fruit and vegetables. As well as diverting food, Tesco will provide additional support by delivering the food directly to FareShare through the Tesco distribution network.
FareShare will then redistribute the food to the charities its supports which include homeless shelters, breakfast clubs for children and luncheon clubs for the elderly.
Rebecca Shelley, Tesco group corporate affairs director, said: “World Food Day is a timely reminder that food poverty is a growing problem in the UK and around the world. Our scale puts us in a unique position to make a difference, so we’re building on our relationship with FareShare and through them, we will be giving all our surplus fresh food to those who need it most. This will provide seven million meals for people in the UK and will also help us to tackle food waste.”
Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, added: “For the first time ever we are supporting more than 1000 frontline charities in the UK. Our partnership with Tesco will enable us to provide even more high quality, nutritious food to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It will also mean the charities we support will save millions of pounds on their food bill, which they can invest into providing additional support services for their beneficiaries, helping to get people back on their feet.”
