Redistribution charities hold an important role, offering a way for the food industry to redirect their surplus to those who need it.
Yet, eleven million people in the UK still struggle to get enough to eat, while more than four million tonnes of food – which would be otherwise safe to eat – is wasted across the food industry each year.
If redistributed, that wasted food would be enough to make around 10 billion meals.
At the same time, these frontline charities are struggling to keep up with demand, whilst transportation of the food remains a significant cost burden.
A major collaboration
In response, the food industry has come together through a new coalition called the Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS). This group is led by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IDG), The Felix Project and FareShare and was created as part of the Coronation Food Project; it already has 50 leading food businesses involved.
How are businesses helping?
The food businesses are investing, in two ways:
- To secure more sources of food for frontline charities
- By innovating to save transportation costs for charities using spare capacity in lorries
Saving surplus food
Currently, much of the surplus food in the supply chain is in large or unpackaged formats that charities struggle to use. To address this, businesses involved in AFS are investing in new partnerships and processes to rescue excess food. For example, by repackaging bulk quantities or bringing raw ingredients together to make meals. Where packaging is defective, ingredients are salvaged, and surplus food is rescued when production lines are switched over.
The coalition is also focusing on categories where the charity need is greatest – vegetables, protein and staples.
2 Sisters Food Group, for example, has secured two million portions of fresh and frozen chicken per year, following a relabelling and repacking collaboration.
Meanwhile, Waitrose and its pasta supplier, Daybreak, are now rescuing the surplus pasta when machines switch between cutting different shapes, contributing to 300,000 meals for charities.
Reducing transportation costs
The coalition is also helping to address transportation challenges, with studies suggesting that 30% of all UK HGV miles have spare capacity.
Through AFS, Sainsbury’s has come together with logistics provider, GXO, and supply chain specialists, Baringa, to enhance the long-term logistics capabilities of the charity sector. This ‘speed dating for trucks’ solution is set to lower the cost of transporting food to charities, with the potential to save them millions of pounds in the future.
Retailers join forces
Five major retailers have also partnered up to a launch a single campaign ‘Let’s make a meal’ of it across April, which will encourage customers to donate money online or round-up at till in store.
M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose will hand the campaign baton to one another over the month, with every £1 raised set to provide five meals for people who need them.
30 million meals annually by 2028
Commenting, Nicky Robinson, director of Alliance Food Sourcing, said: “It’s great to see so many leading food businesses coming together within AFS, but we urge others to join us.
“The opportunity to do good is vast. By partnering up, thousands of tonnes of good, surplus food are already being rescued from the food supply chain, reducing waste and providing meals for the most vulnerable in our society - often by making relatively simple changes.”
The AFS coalition has already provided more than 10 million meals through such innovations. Its ambition is to get more food businesses on board and provide 30 million meals a year by 2028.
