Supermarket giant Tesco in free food call

FOOD banks, charities and community groups across the Inverness area could receive an added boost from local Tesco supermarkets this Easter.

The food giant is urging groups to sign up to receive free surplus food.

Across the UK the supermarket distributes a million meals a month to good causes as part of its Community Food Connection scheme, run in conjunction with food charity FareShare.

Some 7000 charities and community groups pick up free food from Tesco each week, but some of those groups take a break during school holidays, which means Tesco can offer free surplus food to even more organisations over Easter.

“We know that there are some charities that may offer holiday clubs, or groups that put on special events over the Easter holidays, and it is exactly those sort of groups that we want to hear from,” said Alec Brown, at Tesco.

“Whatever time of year it is, we would much rather that unsold food is put to good use in the community, and feeds people first, rather than going to waste.”

The free food includes fresh produce such as fruit, vegetables and bakery products and chilled food like meat, cheese and ready meals. Groups registered with the Community Food Connection are given scheduled collection days and receive a text alert to tell them what food is available. For details visit www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-go

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