Asda donates 1m meals as part of new fruit and veg pledge  : International Procurement & Logistics
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Asda donates 1m meals as part of new fruit and veg pledge 

Posted on January 13, 2025

Asda will donate the equivalent of one million meals during the start of 2025, as part of a brand-new “Winter Fruit and Veg pledge” with FareShare and the Coronation Food Project.

Running from January to March, the initiative will see over 420 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables donated to the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and tackling food waste.

The donation will support FareShare’s nationwide network of charities including afterschool and breakfast clubs, homelessness shelters, and older people’s lunch clubs. As many families face rising heating bills, FareShare will face even greater demand during the colder months, and is expected to deliver 50million meals over the winter period.

A variety of fruit & vegetables will be donated as part of the project*, including carrots, parsnips, cabbage, sprouts, pears, grapes, citrus fruits, and potatoes.

The donations will be provided via Asda’s wholly owned subsidiary IPL, and continues the support provided by IPL and Asda as part of the Coronation Food Project in 2023. IPL & Asda were an original partner to pledge support to the project and provided 1.2m Christmas dinners during the first initiative – supporting nearly 4000 charities and over 450,000 individual beneficiaries.

Jane Berry, IPL Group Managing Director, said: “Food poverty is a significant problem in the UK, and with charities in urgent need of donations during the colder months, we hope our donation of one million meals can make a big difference to those most in need in our communities.

We are immensely proud of our strong relationship with FareShare, which spans over 13 years. In that time, we’ve developed how we make waste efficiencies while better supporting the charities and communities that our redistributed food reaches. With Winter a particularly tough time for many, we’re delighted to continue our support of FareShare through this initiative and help the vulnerable members of the community in which we operate.”

Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO at FareShare said: “We’re incredibly grateful to our longstanding partner Asda for donating the equivalent of over 1 million meals this winter. These nutritious fruit and vegetables will be transformed into meals by 8,000 charities we support, helping people in need, changing lives and strengthening communities during the cold winter months. This donation will make a huge difference, thank you.” 

The Winter Veg Pledge is the latest initiative launched by Asda, having recently marked eleven years of partnership with FareShare by hitting a major milestone, with the redistribution of the equivalent of 40 million meals in that time. Over 8000 charities and community groups continue to receive surplus food from Asda’s stores and depots, ensuring good food avoids going to waste and reaches those who need it most.

The donations have been made possible by redirecting surplus ingredients directly from producers within the Asda and IPL supply chain. Suppliers supporting IPL and Asda’s Winter Fruit and Veg Pledge include Poskitt Carrots, Strawson’s, Frank Clarke & Son, Benzies, Bedfordshire Growers, and Lincolnshire Field Products.

* Fruit & vegetables to be donated will vary across the 12 weeks of the project, depending on supply and volume availability.

About Asda 

Asda is a diversified retail group serving circa 16m customers each week from over 1,200 UK locations and online.

With roots dating back to a Yorkshire family business in the 1920’s, the first Asda officially opened on 3rd May 1965. Today, Asda today employs more than 150k colleagues across its stores, depots, home offices in Leeds and Lutterworth and wholly owned subsidiaries including IPL, Forza, Kober and LEON.  

Asda’s primary operations include the sale of groceries, general merchandise, fuel, as well as clothing and homeware through George at Asda. It also offers a host of other services including Asda Mobile, Asda Money, pharmacy, and optical services.  

As well as 610 superstores, supermarkets and Asda Living Stores across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Asda has a significant footprint in the fast-growing convenience and food service markets with 479 Express stores and 384 food service restaurants, including 53 LEON sites. The supermarket’s online service also delivers to 99.5% of the UK population.  

The Asda group is owned by TDR Capital (75%) and Mohsin Issa (25%).  

About FareShare

FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity tackling food waste to support social good. We take good-to-eat surplus food from across the food industry, sort it in our regional warehouses across the UK, and pass it onto a network of over 8,000 charities and community groups. These include school clubs, community centres and pantries, hostels, refuges, older people’s lunch clubs, and hospices. Three quarters of the organisations we provide food to, support children and families. During the last financial year, 2023-24, FareShare redistributed the equivalent of over 134 million meals – four meals every second.  The 56,000 tonnes of food we redistributed stopped 100,000 tonnes of COe2 going to waste.  www.fareshare.org.uk   

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