A coalition of food producers and supermarkets has announced it will launch a campaign to tackle hunger in the UK.

Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS) involves over 50 food businesses including Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Its latest initiative is led by Sainsbury’s, which has partnered with logistics provider GXO and supply chain consultancy Baringa to transport surplus food from warehouses directly to food redistribution charities. The scheme is supported with technical advice from the Tesco Distribution team.

Studies suggest that 30 per cent of all UK HGV miles have spare capacity, Sainsbury’s said, that can be used to transport excess food without increasing costs. The supermarket estimates the project could save charities “millions” of pounds in the future.

The five supermarkets have also launched an April meal donation campaign called “Let’s make a meal of it”. The campaign encourages customers to donate to The Felix Project and FareShare, both food poverty charities.

The funds raised will go towards sourcing and redistributing meals from surplus food, identified by Alliance Food Sourcing. Sainsbury’s said beneficiaries will include children at youth clubs and “people experiencing loneliness who can meet others over a shared meal”.

“It’s great to see so many leading food businesses coming together within AFS, but we urge others to join us,” said Nicky Robinson, director of Alliance Food Sourcing. “The opportunity to do good is vast.

“By partnering up, thousands of tonnes of good, surplus food are already being rescued from the food supply chain, reducing waste and providing meals for the most vulnerable in our society – often by making relatively simple changes.”

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