Tesco’s food surplus redistribution initiative, Community Food Connection, has now served up 35,170 meals in Camborne and Redruth with 28,068 collected in the Extra store in Pool, and 10 million meals nationally, helping more than 5,000 charities and community groups across the country.

This work is a key part of Tesco’s target to ensure no food safe for human consumption will go to waste by the end of 2017. Charities benefitting from the scheme include Salvation Army Redruth and Goosebury Bush Day Nursery Camborne.

Launched in February 2016, Tesco’s Community Food Connection scheme plays a key role in helping charities feed people and in doing so, enabling the money saved to be invested back into services in communities across the whole of the UK.

The scheme, run in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare, enables Tesco stores to donate unsold food to feed people in need through an app developed by Irish Social Enterprise, FoodCloud. The app lets local charities know there is surplus food available at the end of each day. Community groups can then collect and use the food to provide nutritious meals to vulnerable people.

Working with FareShare, Tesco colleagues in Camborne and Redruth have helped enlist local charities to join the initiative. The scheme is already live in all large Tesco stores, and is currently rolling out to a further 1,800 convenience stores nationwide.

If you are a charity or community group that could benefit from the support of Community Food Connection, visit fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud to register.