The bosses of the UK's biggest supermarkets have warned of a spike in families needing help this summer and called for more action to end food poverty. In an open letter to the wider food industry, the CEOs and managing directors of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, M&S and Waitrose said too much surplus food is still being wasted when it could help feed people.
The letter comes as some councils have ended holiday meal voucher schemes. The group noted that school breaks are typically when local food charities see more people seeking support. Families continue to struggle against rising food prices, with the British Retail Consortium-NIQ reporting food inflation at 2.2%.
Food waste in the supply chain
The retail leaders pointed out that produce is still thrown away when packaging is defective or factory production lines switch. They said there is "an opportunity to salvage some of the 4.6 million tonnes of food that is currently wasted across the food industry’s supply chain, before it even reaches anyone’s plates."
In the letter, they wrote: "We’re creating new partnerships and processes to solve that. Like repackaging bulk quantities or bringing raw ingredients together to make meals. Where packaging is defective, ingredients are salvaged and we’re focusing on food categories where the charity need is greatest – vegetables, protein and staples."
So far examples include two million portions of chicken a year saved and donated, and over 300,000 meals from surplus pasta when machines switch between cutting shapes. The group are part of Alliance Food Sourcing, launched in 2024 to turn surplus food into meals for charities, with a target of 30 million meals a year by 2028.
Coalition to fight hunger
The open letter, signed by Simon Roberts (CEO Sainsbury's and President IGD), Gordon Gafa (Managing Director UK Food Tesco), Alex Freudmann (Managing Director Food M&S), Tom Denyard (Managing Director Waitrose) and Rami Baitiéh (CEO Morrisons), urged the food industry to join forces. They stressed that almost one in eight UK households go hungry, including 2.2 million children.
They highlighted the recently announced National Programme to Redistribute Surplus Food, inspired by the King’s Coronation Food Project, which aims to triple charitable food redistribution in a decade. The bosses said that despite partnerships with frontline charities, 86% of such charities report demand for food is only increasing.
