ASDA EXTENDS FOOD REDISTRIBUTION INITIATIVE

By Annie Kane | 10 December 2014 | Add a Comment

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Supermarket chain Asda has announced that it is to extend its food redistribution network initiative to include surplus food created by its UK food manufacturers.

First launched in April 2013, Asda’s food redistribution scheme works in partnership with the FareShare network to divert surplus chilled food stock produced by its supply chain to charities that support those struggling to afford food.

The supermarket has to date sent 855 tonnes of surplus food from its depots to FareShare, which has in turn helped create over two million meals for people who are experiencing food poverty.

However, Asda has now agreed to extend its initiative to surplus food created by its manufacturers, which would otherwise become waste.

The move comes after Asda’s wholly-owned produce importer International Procurement & Logistics (IPL) identified that surplus food was being created at production level, but that suppliers thought that the cost of transport was too high and that their individual surplus food volumes were too small to have an impact.

As such, Asda has now committed £200,000 to cover the costs of moving the surplus food from suppliers to FareShare.

It is estimated that up to 2,600 tonnes more food a year could be sent to FareShare through the initiative, creating around six million more meals.

Deal is a ‘game changer’

Lindsay Boswell, CEO of FareShare, said: “The biggest barrier to manufacturers and processors supplying more food to FareShare is the cost of transporting that food to FareShare’s 20 regional centres across the UK.

“This [deal] is a major breakthrough, and Asda’s support will enable more food businesses to give us more surplus food to support more charities and community projects to feed more people in need. It really is that much of a game changer.”

Barry Williams, Chief Merchandising Officer for Food at Asda, commented: “It’s unacceptable that anyone is experiencing food poverty in this country. We’re therefore immensely proud that through our FareShare initiative, Asda has so far managed to provide over two million meals for people who are in dire need. But we recognise there’s still more for us to do, and by creating a way for manufacturers to send their food waste into our network, we can help FareShare supply up to six million more meals.”

Williams said that the company could not “fight this battle on [its] own” and therefore urged other retailers to follow its lead and “help make food poverty in the UK a thing of the past”.

FareShare estimates that more than 300,000 tonnes of surplus food fit for consumption may exist at manufacturer, brand owner and processor level within the UK, due to a range of issues including overproduction, errors in forecasting, incorrect labelling, and damaged packaging.

The food redistribution extension follows Asda’s decision to join the British Retail Consortium’s ‘Better Retailing Climate’ initiative earlier this year, committing to publish food waste arisings at retail stage, reduce carbon emissions, boost resource efficiency, and limit the amount of waste sent to landfill.