In a continuation its efforts to fight food waste, British retailer Tesco has announced a new online 'food waste hotline'.
The initiative will allow Tesco suppliers and growers to highlight recurring food waste issues in the supply chain, via its online Supplier Network resource.
The grocer said that such food waste is a 'significant proportion' of total food waste produced in the UK. As Tesco has pledged to halving all of its UK food waste by 2025, it wishes to work closely with suppliers to stop food waste at the source, it said.
One example involved the simultaneous ripening of strawberry crops after an overly-warm summer. To avoid waste, Tesco took the whole crop and offered large boxes of strawberries at a low price, in hope of decreasing food waste.
No Time For Waste
Matt Simister, commercial director of fresh Food and commodities, commented, “At Tesco, we have no time for waste, and we are committed to reducing food waste wherever it occurs, from farm to fork.
"The ‘food waste hotline’ is another little help we are making to achieve this with our suppliers. It helps our suppliers gain direct, easy access to our Product teams, and this will enable us to identify food waste hotspots and systemic issues and work in partnership to tackle them."
The initiative is part of Tesco's 'No time for waste campaign', which has included a crowd-funding platform for food-waste busting ideas, as well as the Left-Yeovers range created in partnership with organic dairy company Yeo Valley, which uses imperfect or excess fruit in its products.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
