11-12-2017 | Tesco Ireland has announced it will donate surplus food to groups around the country this Christmas Eve.

Working with start-up firm FoodCloud, the supermarket will try to match its 149 Irish stores with volunteers who can distribute the goods.

This move is part of Tesco’s No Time for Waste initiative, which aims to minimise food waste and increase surplus food donations at Tesco stores nationwide.

Director of Corporate Affairs Christine Heffernan said: “We all know and recognise that Christmas can be a really tough time for some people and we want to help as many people in need as possible.

“Last year we donated really good quality products on Christmas Eve including Christmas Turkeys, fresh fruit and vegetables that we know made a positive difference to those in need.

“This year we’re committed to ensuring that all of our surplus food will be available for collection on Christmas Eve and our 260 local good causes are welcome to collect from their local Tesco store.

“Additional surplus food that is suitable for freezing will be frozen down and donated after the festive period. We’re really proud to be the first national retail partner of FoodCloud since 2014 and to date we have donated over 4million meals to more than 260 community groups across Ireland.”

Every week Tesco donates over 40,000 meals across the country.

To date, more than 260 local community groups are already benefiting from Tesco’s surplus food donations including family resource centres, soup kitchens, youth services, homeless organisations, meals on wheels and more.

These donations have enabled the charitable sector to save over €5.8 million off their food bills to date, as reported by FoodCloud, empowering them to invest in additional support services across the country.

Bron: Irishmirror.ie