Tesco has announced the UK-wide roll-out of Community Food Connection with FareShare FoodCloud, which will see millions of meals made of up of the retailer's surplus food redirected to charities by the end of 2017.
The scheme has been launched in 15 cities across the UK already, including Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton and Portsmouth, and will be brought to Tesco stores in Leeds, Leicester, Kent and the West Midlands in the coming months.
Tesco aims to bring the scheme to all of its large stores by the end of 2016, and to remaining stores by the end of 2017, as part of its commitment to reducing food waste.
Community Food Connection is powered by FareShare FoodCloud, which is an open platform that helps store colleagues and charities work together. Tesco says that once the scheme is fully developed, other retailers could adopt FareShare FoodCloud to create an industry-standard platform to help local charities and communities.
Dave Lewis, Tesco CEO, commented, "We believe no food that could be eaten should be wasted – that’s why we have committed that no surplus food should go to waste from our stores.
"We know it’s an issue our customers really care about, and wherever there’s surplus food at Tesco stores, we’re committed to donating it to local charities so we can help feed people in need."
Lindsay Boswell, FareShare CEO, added, "Our role as a trusted partner to the voluntary sector is really important to the charities and community groups we work with, and we are excited to launch this new service with Tesco’s support."
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Jenny Whelan. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
