Complete Kidz have been
part of a pilot scheme called the Community Food Connection. We collect food
from our local Tesco store and also receive food from the supermarket
distribution centres that is surplus to requirements.
It has helped us to feed
children tasty meals at all our after school clubs, pre-school and holiday
camps. We are delighted that the children are being given nutritious meals,
prepared by our in-house chef Mike Haydon, while at the same time we are
helping to eradicate food waste.
Read more about this
fantastic scheme (below reported in the press in March 2016):
Tesco has finalised
a deal to give all surplus food from its stores to charity.
The UK’s biggest grocery
chain hopes to involve 5,000 local charities and groups in an initiative that
aims to eradicate food waste and help vulnerable people.
The retailer’s latest
figures show 55,400 tonnes of food were thrown away at its stores and
distribution centres in the UK last year, of which around 30,000 tonnes could
otherwise have been eaten – equivalent to around 70 million meals.
The plan is a nationwide
roll-out of a 14-store pilot called the Community Food Connection, which over
the last six months has generated more than 22 tonnes of food, the equivalent
of 50,000 meals.
It operates by using a
digital open platform called FareShare FoodCloud that allows store staff and
charities to liaise to distribute surplus food.
It launches in 15 cities
and regions this week, including Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton and
Portsmouth, and will cover all stores by the end of 2017.
Tesco and FareShare are
appealing for 5,000 charities and community groups to join up and receive the
food.
Tesco is also calling on
other retailers to adopt FareShare FoodCloud to create an industry-wide
platform.
The initiative also
includes the launch of a new ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ range of so-called wonky
vegetables that previously may have been thrown away and will be on sale at low
prices, in line with several other grocers.
Tesco chief executive Dave
Lewis said: ‘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.
‘But we know the challenge
is bigger than this and that’s why we’ve made a farm-to-fork commitment to
reduce food waste upstream with our suppliers and in our own operations and
downstream in our customers’ own homes.’
FareShare chief executive
Lindsay Boswell said: ‘We are delighted to be offering our store level solution
in partnership with Tesco who are demonstrating real leadership in tackling
food surplus.
‘FareShare FoodCloud is a
natural extension of our work together which has already provided nine million
meals to help feed vulnerable people.’
