More than 800,000 meals have been supplied to people in need across Dorset as Tesco reached a milestone of donating 50 million meals across the UK.

Tesco has donated 818,649 meals of surplus food across Dorset through the Community Food Connection scheme it operates with food redistribution charity FareShare. Every Tesco store in the UK participates in the scheme, through which more than a million meals of food are donated each month.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic almost 700 new groups have signed up to receive food from the scheme, helping to respond to the needs of communities across the UK.

FareShare’s Chief Executive Lindsay Boswell said the scheme, the largest of its kind in the UK and believed to be the largest in Europe, was making a real difference.

“We are delighted that Tesco has reached this milestone – donating the equivalent of 50 million meals is no mean feat and has gone such a long way in supporting thousands of charities and community groups up and down the country,” he said. “The scheme is a real game-changer for organisations working with the vulnerable, allowing even more people to access good to eat food which would otherwise go to waste.”

The scheme works by pairing charities and community groups with their local Tesco store. At the end of each day a store colleague works out which food is likely to be unsold and then uses a specially-developed app to tell a local charity or community group what food can be collected.

Across the UK 7,000 charities and community groups have benefitted from the scheme, with 228 groups currently receiving surplus food from Tesco stores in the south west.

Tesco UK CEO Jason Tarry said: “Tesco Community Food Connection has made a real difference to communities. Now that we are five years into the scheme the fact that we have donated 50m meals allows us to reflect on its success, and the difference the scheme has made not only in feeding people in communities across the UK but also to tackling climate change. However, there is more to do, and we are looking at how we can divert even more food from waste in future.”

To find out more about Community Food Connection visit: tescoplc.com/community