Tesco has won a “responsible in business” award for donating surplus food so it can be used to create dishes for some of the most needy and vulnerable people in Britain’s communities.
The supermarket picked up the Building Stronger Communities award at the Business in the Community Responsible Business Awards 2017, during a ceremony held last night (July 4).
Working in partnership with charity FareShare, the Community Food Connection project operates across 1,700 chains and will be rolled out to all Tesco stores by the end of the year.
So far, more than 10 million meals have been delivered, however Tesco wants to push targets further.
“We’ve set ourselves this really big target of making sure that no food that is fit for human consumption goes to waste by the end of 2017,” says George Gordon, UK and Republic of Ireland communications director.
“Community Food Connection is a really big part of that mission to make it happen through a network of over 3,000 stores where you don’t know from day to day what will be surplus because it all comes down to what the customers choose and what they don’t choose – it’s really hard.”
Andy Melia, head of community investment, of Business in the Community, also congratulates the retailer on the “fundamental ways in which a business can achieve mutual benefit for itself and the community.”
