One million tins of baked beans delivered to Felix to help tackle UK hunger

• Major food dispatch to get underway as over eight million¹ people across the country face food insecurity
• Innovative partnership uses surplus production capacity to provide meals for charitable distribution
• Waitrose also joins forces with pasta and fruit suppliers. Together, the collaborations will share the equivalent of over 1.9 million meals to those in need

One million tins of baked beans will be produced for people facing food insecurity this summer through an innovative partnership between Princes, Waitrose, Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS), and Felix (formerly The Felix Project and FareShare).

The collaboration will see cans of Branston Baked Beans distributed through Felix’s network of over 8,000 community organisations, schools, food banks and community kitchens, providing thousands of meals for people who need them most.

Inspired by the legacy of The King’s Coronation Food Project, the project forms part of the wider work of Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS), a coalition that brings together leading UK food businesses to unlock surplus food and factory capabilities and turn it into meals for charities.

Unlike traditional food redistribution programmes that rely solely on surplus items, the donation of baked beans has brought together manufacturing, retail and charity partners to start donating the British store cupboard staple over the coming months.

By unlocking surplus factory capacity and supply-chain resources, the partnership has created a new way of getting more nutritious food to communities facing hunger. Princes is optimising its state-of-the-art facilities to produce additional volumes of beans during quieter periods throughout the year.

The move represents a shift in how the food industry addresses food insecurity. With standard retail surplus donations being inconsistent, the project gives a vital boost to the food supplies distributed by charities.

Waitrose is also currently trialling similar initiatives with its pasta supplier, Daybreak, and its fresh fruit supplier, Primafruit.² Combined, the three initiatives are on track to divert the equivalent of over 1.9 million meals to Felix, the UK’s largest food rescue charity, by the end of the year.

David McDiarmid, Corporate Relations Director at Princes Group, said: “Baked beans have been a cornerstone of the British kitchen for decades thanks to their versatility and long shelf life. We are delighted that our first successful venture with Alliance Food Sourcing is on Branston Baked Beans, as they provide an accessible and nutritious meal option, with one can containing over 24 grams of fibre. We have partnered with FareShare for over a decade and donations of stock is a matter of routine and something all our colleagues are passionate about, so we are proud to go ’beyond surplus’ food and instead use our manufacturing capability to actively produce food for people who need it.”

Marija Rompani, Director of Ethics and Sustainability at Waitrose said: “This isn’t just about donating surplus food; it’s about exploring how we can work closely with our suppliers to rewrite the rules in our supply chain and unlock surplus that can make a real difference to our communities.”

Nicky Robinson, Director of Alliance Food Sourcing, said: “We’re delighted to see Waitrose, Princes, Daybreak and Primafruit showing what can be achieved by working together. By adapting their supply chains, food businesses can redirect factory capacity or rescue edible food to help tackle UK hunger. Innovations like these mean millions more meals are already reaching people who need them – often through relatively simple changes.”

Charlotte Hill OBE, CEO of Felix said: “Unfortunately the demand for food amongst the charities and organisations Felix supplies keeps rising. That is why projects like this are vital, it not only shows what partnerships and innovative thinking can achieve, it ensures Felix, which is the new name for merged charities FareShare and The Felix Project, receives a steady supply of a much sought after family favourite.”

1 Food Insecurity Tracking | Food Foundation

2 The three projects will deliver the equivalent of over 1.9 million meals (with one meal defined as 420g) through food redistribution charity, Felix :

• The equivalent of 995k meals of baked beans in collaboration with Princes Group
  By bringing together latent capacity in ingredients, packaging and logistics, one million cans of baked beans will be produced for charitable distribution. The first cans have just arrived with Felix, with the trial continuing to at least the autumn.

• The equivalent of 715k meals of fresh fruit with Primafruit
  Fruit grown for supermarkets can naturally create surplus at peak times. Waitrose is using its existing supply infrastructure to ship this additional volume and divert to Felix. The project is on track to deliver a total of 715,000 meals by the end of the year.

• The equivalent of 240k meals of pasta with Daybreak
  Surplus is often generated when there is a changeover in pasta variety in the production process. Utilising existing packaging and logistics, the pasta is imported from Italy, with the equivalent of 240,000 meals having already been saved and redistributed.