Senior leaders from the UK food industry including Tesco and Asda have joined forces to support the Coronation Food Project by pledging to reduce and redistribute surplus food waste.
Inspired by King Charles III, the project formally launched on 14 November and will be delivered in partnership with FareShare across the UK and The Felix Project in London.
It intends to support the 13m people in the UK already experiencing food insecurity by targeting all forms of waste across the food supply chain.
Major supermarkets signed up to the pledge include Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, M&S, Asda, Morrisons, Lidl and Aldi.
They join food manufacturers such as Nestle, Bakkavor and ABF which are all being encouraged to take part in Fareshare’s ‘Alliance Manufacturing’ programme to redistribute even more surplus food to charities nationwide.
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The programme looks to unlock more surplus food for redistribution by bringing project members together to share their surplus, underutilised and donated resources in all forms, including food, packaging, labour hours and factory or distribution capacity.
In the pilot phase, food industry leaders have committed to millions of meals.
The first meals have already been produced, with more to come in the run-up to Christmas and beyond.
FareShare CEO George Wright said: “The response from the food industry leaders and their teams has been incredible. I shared the idea with them, and they’ve really taken it on, working together to make it a reality.
“The food is already getting to our charities – school clubs, community centres and a whole spectrum of support services – and with so many families impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, it is making a difference already.
“We are all incredibly grateful to them and it’s just the start. If everyone in the food industry joins the alliance, no matter how large or small, the combined force would be game-changing.”
