Tesco’s annual winter food collection will provide two million meals’ worth of long-life food to charity partners the Trussell Trust and FareShare.
The collection, which took place in all stores from 30 November to 2 December, saw customers encouraged to donate what they could as both charities face their busiest winter yet.
The Trussell Trust expects to distribute more than one million emergency food parcels between December and February, while FareShare has over 1,500 frontline charities on its waiting list seeking food.
Tesco CEO Ken Murphy told Retail Times: “The generosity of our customers is truly amazing. At a time when people are facing financial strain, they still went out of their way to support our charity partners in stores across the UK.
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“From a single carton of long-life milk to a whole trolley of items, every customer who donated helped us to make this one of the most successful winter food collections ever.”
Through rounding up their shopping bill at the till and donating via the supermarket giant’s website, shoppers raised more than £300,000 in addition to the food contributions.
This follows previous work by the UK’s largest retailer to help support the 13m people in the UK experiencing food insecurity.
In November, senior leaders from the UK food industry including Tesco joined forces to support the Coronation Food Project by pledging to reduce and redistribute surplus food waste.
Inspired by King Charles III, the initiative will be delivered in partnership with FareShare across the UK and The Felix Project in London.
