Tesco donates almost 150,000 surplus meals across Lambeth

A supermarket has donated 149,215 meals of surplus food across one borough.

The food has been donated in Lambeth through the Community Food Connection scheme by Tesco, with food redistribution charity FareShare.

FareShare’s chief executive Lindsay Boswell said the scheme, the largest of its kind in the UK and believed to be the largest in Europe, was making a real difference.

He said: “We are delighted that Tesco has reached this milestone – donating the equivalent of 50 million meals is no mean feat, and has gone such a long way in supporting thousands of charities and community groups up and down the country.

“The scheme is a real game changer for organisations working with the vulnerable, allowing even more people to access to good food which would otherwise go to waste.”

At the end of each day a store colleague works out which food is likely to be unsold and then uses a specially-developed app to tell a local charity or community group what food can be collected.