Hartlepool charities urged to sign up to Tesco new food surplus scheme

Groups that join the scheme, designed to help cut down on food waste, will use a new app to link up with their nearest Tesco store that has unsold produce that can be turned into meals for vulnerable people.

Tesco and food charity FareShare are encouraging charities and community groups in and around Hartlepool to register for FareShare FoodCloud.

Rifka Chakkalakal, community food programmes manager at Tesco, said: “No food that can be eaten should go to waste. We’re really excited to start working on this initiative to ensure that any unsold food we have is made use of.

“We are looking forward to forging strong links with local charities and community groups in Hartlepool, and to use this initiative to support their efforts to help vulnerable people in our community.”

Tesco says the Community Food Connection programme is part of an ongoing pledge to cut down on the amount of food wasted.

The Fareshare FoodCloud links charities and community groups to Tesco stores via an innovative app, that sees stores alert members to surplus unsold food at the end of each day.

The unsold food is free and includes fresh produce, such as fruit, vegetables and bakery products.

Chilled products like meat, dairy and ready meals are also offered.

There have been 350,000 meals donated to people in need via Tesco’s Community Food Connection programme nationwide, after a successful pilot in 14 stores last year.

A national rollout followed in March and more than 1,000 Tesco stores across the UK are now redistributing their surplus food through FareShare FoodCloud.

Tesco is the first retailer to invest in, and roll out, FareShare FoodCloud and is the latest step in its work with the charity to provide surplus food.

The partnership has been in place for more than three years and includes activities which make food available from the Tesco supply chain, distribution centres and dotcom centres.

It has seen nine million meals made up of surplus food donated to more than 2,200 charities and community groups across the UK.

Fareshare says 3.9million tonnes of food is wasted every year by the food and drink industry. It estimates 10% of the surplus is edible, enough food for 800million meals.

Any charities or community groups in Hartlepool that would like to access the scheme should register their interest by visiting www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud.