A major supermarket chain will donate food that would otherwise go to waste to charities and community groups as part of a country-wide initiative.

Tesco in Harrow is taking part in the company’s Community Food Connection scheme meaning charitable organisations can pick up free food from local branches.

The UK-wide initiative, jointly run by food charity FareShare and FoodCloud technology, recognises that many school-operated groups take a break during the summer holidays, meaning food that would normally be donated could be needlessly thrown away.

To address this, Tesco is inviting various charitable groups to come forward and find out how they can benefit.

Alec Brown, head of Community at Tesco, said: “Whilst many school breakfast clubs don’t operate over the summer, we know that there are many groups doing holiday activities that could benefit from surplus food from their local Tesco store.

“We are encouraging local groups who do to get in touch with FareShare, to find out if our surplus food could support their work in the community this summer.”

Free food on offer includes fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods and chilled meat, cheeses and even ready meals.

Those who register with Community Food Connection receive a schedule of collection days and text alerts notifying them of what is available.

Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, said: “We support many amazing frontline charities which use in date surplus food from Tesco to feed thousands of vulnerable people right throughout the year. 

“However, some groups, such as children’s breakfast clubs, close over the school holidays, which means there is even more food.”

If you would like to know more about Community Food Connection visit www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-go