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Food Sainsbury's Tesco

Sainsbury’s tackles food waste with 'to the rescue’ campaign

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

June 17, 2015 | 2 min read

Sainsbury’s has launched a campaign offering people advice, recipes and storage tips on getting more out of produce as supermarkets come under increasing pressure to tackle the problem of food waste.

Rival Tesco recently partnered with food redistribution charity FareShare for a scheme to send surplus food from its stores to local charities.

Sainsbury’s has a nationwide programme with Fareshare but is looking to build on it with the ‘…to the rescue’ campaign.

It conducted research which claimed British families could benefit from over 60 tonnes of additional vitamins and minerals annually by reducing food waste as well as save up to £700 a year.

Potatoes, bread and milk were among the most frequently binned foods leading Sainsbury’s to create content with recipes and tips to help people reduce their food waste.

Paul Crewe, head of sustainability at Sainsbury’s, said: “Throwing away food is often associated with wasting money, but our research published today as part of our ‘…to the rescue’ campaign shows there is also a wider health issue. Our easy tips and recipes have been created to assist with both reducing food waste and benefiting the health of UK families. None of Sainsbury’s food waste goes to landfill and any surplus food fit for human consumption is donated to charities.”

Earlier this month, Labour MP Diane Abbott called on the government to introduce legislation which would ban supermarkets from throwing away food and instead give it to charities.

In France, legislation already exists that bans large supermarkets from discarding food which could otherwise be used for animal feed and sent to charities.

Food Sainsbury's Tesco

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