Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, will tomorrow (Friday 2 March 2018) be visiting the Milton Tesco store where he will be hearing about local community work that aims to tackle food waste by providing people in need with a meal. Since 2012, Tesco has been in collaboration with the food waste organisation, FareShare, in an effort to redistribute surplus food to local communities. Mr Zeichner will be introduced to how the scheme works and how it is helping local communities in Cambridge.

Mr Zeichner says: “I am looking forward to hearing how local Tesco stores have been collaborating with FareShare to try and provide meals to my local constituents, while tackling the huge problem of food waste.”

“The large-scale waste of food is something that I think many of us feel needs addressing, especially when we know that more people are struggling to make ends meet to be able to feed their families. Many people are unhappy knowing that there is perfectly good food going in the bin, so I think this is a scheme that everyone can get behind and support.”

“I am already aware of organisations based in Cambridge that are benefiting directly from the FareShare project working out of the Milton Tesco store and have no doubt that many more could get involved. If we can reduce food waste, which is also good for the environment, and provide meals to people that need them then that’s a great project.”

The scheme has integrated different areas of Tesco to extend their distribution channels to FareShare. The result of that is that Tesco and Fareshare have been involved in providing more than 88,000 meals across Cambridgeshire and 20 million nationally.

Alex Horne, Tesco’s Community Food Connection Coach in Cambridge said: “We know that Community Food Connection is making a real difference to the community in Cambridge by providing people in need with meals from food that would otherwise go to waste.

“With all Tesco stores now taking part in Community Food Connection there are more opportunities than ever for groups to benefit from the free food provided under the scheme. I would invite any group that thinks they could benefit from the scheme to contact FareShare, as we have the capacity to help even more good causes.”