Over 100 UK food businesses including Tesco and Cranswick will be awarded ‘Leading Food Partner’ badges, in recognition of their efforts to tackle food waste within their operations.
Over the last year the food industry has diverted 35,000 tonnes of nutritious food that would have otherwise been wasted, which was enough to create 84 million meals for vulnerable families.
Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, said: “The food industry has woken up to the problem of food waste. In the last five years we’ve quadrupled the amount of surplus food we redistribute, working with over 700 food businesses in the past year alone.
“Companies are putting plans in place to measure and report on food waste within their operations, reduce avoidable waste, then divert in-date, edible food that can’t be sold to charities putting meals onto people’s plates.
“We value each and every one of our food partners, but the Leading Food Partner badge recognises businesses who have achieved the gold standard when it comes to fighting food waste within their operations – those who are consistently getting surplus food to good causes, and taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.”
Food waste accounts for 10% of the world’s CO2 emissions and in the UK there is an estimated 2 million tonnes of edible food that goes to waste.
Claire DeSilva, head of community and media at Tesco, added: “We’re very proud of our longstanding partnership with FareShare, which enables us to divert surplus food that could otherwise have been wasted, daily from our stores, supporting thousands of charities in communities across the UK.
“It’s a privilege to be recognised by FareShare and we encourage colleagues across the food industry to leave no stone unturned in the battle against food waste.”