Supermarkets give unsold food away
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SURPLUS food donated to a homeless charity by four local supermarkets has amounted to more than 6000 dinners for the city’s most destitute individuals.
Taken together, Tesco, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and Booker Wholesale cash and carry now hand over more than two dozen boxes crammed with fruits, vegetables, and other produce past its sell by date to Inverness Foodstuff (IF), every week.
Charity treasurer Bob Glover (76) said it was phenomenal to think that since the partnership was formed in February 2014 tonnes of food destined for the bin had been thrown in the cooking pot by his team of 70-strong volunteers to serve 6097 meals to people who would otherwise have gone hungry.
"If you think that every one of those meals could have cost us about £3-a-head to make that’s more than £18,000 worth – and all that food would have gone to waste. It’s food which has reached its sell by date but not its use by date so it is perfectly safe to eat," he said.
Steven Geegan, fruit and veg manager at the Tesco store at Inverness Retail Park, said the food donation scheme, which Tesco also runs with other city charities, had significantly reduced the amount of food being binned by the supermarket.
He said: "Inverness Foodstuffs were the very first charity to come to us and ask for food and now there’s not a week that goes by when we don’t help them.
"We try to give to a different charity every night of the week, even to schools for breakfast clubs. It’s made a massive difference to the amount of food we bin."
Michael Willis, who works in the butchery and fruit and veg department at Bookers Wholesale on the city’s Harbour Road, said the company usually donates about £40-worth of goods every week.
He said: "I’m happy that the food is not going to waste. It’s really good to see it’s going to be used."
Marks & Spencer’s worker Katina MacKintosh said: "Everyone has been very enthusiastic in store, we are always looking for items that can be put into the case for charity. There are lots of things we can’t sell like biscuits that have come in with their boxes slightly damaged and the staff are eager to make sure nothing gets wasted. It makes people much more enthused and wanting to do their bit for charity and to stop food waste as much as possible."
A survey carried out last year by the Evening Standard revealed that, taken together, the major supermarkets are donating only 3.2 per cent — 7806 tonnes — of their total retail food surplus. It found that every 1000 tonnes of surplus food diverted to charity amounts to another 2.4 million meals.
