CHARITIES and community groups in Launceston are being asked to register for a new scheme that will see unsold food become meals for vulnerable people across the town.

As part of its ongoing pledge to cut food waste, Tesco’s Community Food Connection programme, with FareShare FoodCloud, recruits and supports charities and community groups, linking them to Tesco stores via an app that allows store teams to alert them to surplus unsold food items available at the end of each day.

The unsold food is free and includes fresh produce, including fruit, vegetables and bakery goods. Chilled products such as meat, dairy and ready meals are also offered.

Around 1,000,000 meals have been donated to people in need through the Community Food Connection since it first started, and following a successful pilot in 14 stores last year and a national rollout from March this year, more than 2,220 charities have signed up to the scheme so far.

FareShare FoodCloud is the result of a unique three-way partnership, bringing the charity, social enterprise and commercial sectors together. FareShare brings its knowledge of the UK charity food redistribution market and its experience of providing food; FoodCloud brings its knowledge of the technology and online applications needed to connect businesses with surplus food.

Tesco brings the people and technology required to deliver the programme, and is the first retailer to invest in, and roll out, 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 Launceston, and to use this initiative to support their efforts to help vulnerable people in our community.”

FareShare FoodCloud is the latest step in Tesco’s work with FareShare on the provision of surplus food. The partnership spans over three years and includes activities that make food available from the Tesco supply chain, distribution centres and dotcom centres, which, as a result, has seen more than 16 million meals made up of surplus food donated to over 2,500 charities and community groups across the UK.

Any charities and community groups in Launceston using food to support people and that would like to access the scheme, should register their interest by visiting www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud