Let’s Make a Meal of It campaign raises half a million pounds to tackle UK hunger

Sainsbury’s customers have joined millions of shoppers across the UK to help raise more than £500,000 through the industry wide Let’s Make a Meal of It campaign. Across April and early May, five major supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, M&S, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose, came together to run the initiative in stores and online, helping to unlock new sources of food for people facing hunger.

Latest Food Foundation figures show 8 million people go hungry in the UK, including 2.1 million children, while frontline charities say they can’t meet high levels of demand for food support. The funding raised through Let’s Make a Meal of it will help provide fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and cupboard staples by rescuing edible, surplus food from the UK food supply chain.

Customers showed that UK hunger remains a cause close to their hearts, donating 45% more than last year’s campaign.

Let’s Make a Meal of It was spearheaded by food industry convener, Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS) and Britain’s leading food redistribution charity, Felix. Bringing together 50 leading food businesses, AFS works to unlock surplus food and factory capacity in the food supply chain and turn food that otherwise might go to waste into meals for charities. This includes recusing edible surplus that goes to waste across the food supply chain, before it even reaches people’s plates, for example, when packaging is defective or when production lines switch between products.

Every £1 donated during the campaign will provide five meals. Funding will target high demand products, such as fresh produce, protein and staples. This includes:

• Rescuing 500 tonnes of surplus fresh fruit and veg that would otherwise be wasted
• New processes to create vitamin-rich juice and smoothies from surplus fruit
• 250 tonnes of rice and noodles
• 80 tonnes of porridge
• A million cans of Branston baked beans, produced in spare factory time, will reach charities from the end of July
• Minced meat supplied using spare factory capacity from August
• Surplus ingredients repurposed to make nutritious fishcakes

The focus on cupboard staples is important, as it makes up just 4% of donated food. But through AFS partnerships and the money raised through Let’s Make A Meal of It, new sources have been identified and implemented.

Businesses investing to support these initiatives include Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, and suppliers, Albert Bartletts, Allied British Foods, Dovecote Park, Hilton Seafood and Princes.

As food is rescued from the supply chain, before packaging and transportation, it can be provided to the charities much more cost-efficiently, meaning the £0.5m donated will provide food that has a retail cost of around £5.5m, if were to be bought.

Gordon Gafa, Managing Director of UK Food at Tesco, said: “We are delighted to see that the Let’s Make a Meal of it campaign was such a success. Thank you to our customers who generously donated; we are looking forward to seeing how the money can help support communities across the country.”

Alex Freudmann, Managing Director of Food at M&S said: “I want to say a huge thank you to every M&S customer who donated to families who are experiencing food poverty through the Let’s Make a Meal of It campaign in our stores. By coming together with other retailers, Felix and Alliance Food Sourcing, this campaign is helping turn surplus food into meals for communities who need them most.”

Tom Denyard, Managing Director of Waitrose, said: “We are absolutely committed to tackling food waste and food insecurity. Through the generosity of our customers and by working together with the AFS coalition and our suppliers to turn surplus into support, we can continue to make a real difference in our communities.”

Rami Baitiéh, CEO of Morrisons, said: “We are committed to tackling food waste wherever it arises and are delighted have been part of this important industry initiative to rescue and redistribute surplus food to people in need.”

Charlotte Hill, CEO of Felix said: “Sadly, the demand amongst the charities we support is increasing, 54% said they have seen demand rise in the last year. This money is vital and will ensure Alliance Food Sourcing and Felix can continue to innovate and source much needed food, so a huge thank you to everyone involved.”

Nicky Robinson, Director of Alliance Food Sourcing, said: “We’re delighted to see such huge generosity from the British public. It will mean thousands more tonnes of good, surplus food will go to people going hungry across the UK, including fresh veg, protein and staples. A big thank you to everyone who donated to Let’s Make a Meal of It and to all 5 retailers involved.”