Tesco to give edible unsold food to local charities

PETALING JAYA: Food waste is a major global challenge. Around one third of the world's food is never eaten – it's thrown away or left to rot. Earlier this year, Solid Waste Corporation of Malaysia reported that Malaysians waste 15,000 tonnes of food daily, including 3,000 tonnes that is still fit for consumption and should not be discarded.
Considering the global problem of food waste, the country's leading hypermarket Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Tesco Malaysia) has taken the step forward to lead in tackling food waste by working with its partners to channel its edible unsold food to those in need.
In conjunction with the recent World Food Day, Tesco Malaysia today announced its national rollout of its Community Food Surplus Donation programme, in partnership with Kechara Soup Kitchen and Food Aid Foundation.
Six months ago, Tesco piloted its Community Food Surplus Donation programme across six stores in Klang Valley. Since then, 102 charities and groups across Klang Valley have received over 6000kg of food surplus (or 24,000 meals) to date from Tesco Malaysia, in working with its partners.
Upon the successful trial, Tesco Malaysia, Kechara Soup Kitchen and Food Aid Foundation has come together to formalise a long term partnership to address food poverty through the Community Food Surplus Donation programme.
The partnership was launched by CEO Tesco Malaysia, Paul Ritchie, Henry Ooi, president of Kechara Food Kitchen and Rick Chee, the founder of Food Aid Foundation, and witnessed by Yang Amat Mulia Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
Speaking at the event, CEO Tesco Malaysia, Paul Ritchie said, "I am delighted to launch this programme in Malaysia as the Tesco Community Food Surplus Donation programme is a great way for us to reduce food waste and redistributing edible unsold food to those in need."
"Following today's launch, the programme will be expanded across 24 of our hypermarkets in Klang Valley, Penang and Johor. We aim to expand the programme to all Tesco hypermarkets nationwide by the end of 2017."
Currently, Tesco Malaysia's donation of food surplus involves baked and fresh produce only and will expand by category to other product types as the project gets rolled out nationwide. With the support given by its local store colleagues, Tesco Malaysia is able to channel its food surplus on a daily basis to its partners in an efficient way.
Kechara Soup Kitchen, a registered non-profit organisation distributing food to the homeless and urban poor in the Klang Valley was the first to trial the Tesco Community Food Surplus Donation in March this year.
The president of Kechara Soup Kitchen, Henry Ooi said, "Offering food to the less fortunate is a gesture of compassion, a kind deed that anyone can do. No one should go hungry. The tremendous support that we received from various generous organisations such as Tesco really helps to put food into the hands of the people who need them the most."
Since its inception in 2013, Food Aid Foundation has been collecting and redistributing food surplus to more than 130 charity homes in the Klang Valley. Through Tesco's Community Food Surplus Donation Programme, Food Aid Foundation has successfully churned out 13,285 meals to be delivered to 7000 people in need monthly.
Food Aid Foundation founder Rick Chee said, "There are more than 200 charity homes in the Klang Valley and we see an increase of demand for supplies from our food bank. We are also seeing a decrease in the food available. With Tesco Malaysia making this big move to donate its food surplus, we have been able to help the charity homes with their daily food bills and save time for the caregivers in preparing snacks and breakfast for their residents."
On the partnership Ritchie added, "This partnership is important to us as it bridges Tesco with the charity homes and we are pleased with the progress so far. In taking it forward, we will look into making the process simpler and better for our partners to collect food surplus from our stores through a mobile application."