CHARITIES and community groups are being urged to sign up to a surplus food scheme with a major supermarket.

Tesco is inviting non-profit groups to sign up to its Community Food Connection scheme, where leftover food is donated by the store.

The food is free and includes fresh produces such as fruit and vegetables, bakery products and chilled foods like meat, cheese and ready meals.

More than 26,000 meals have already been donated to local charities in Salisbury as part of Tesco's commitment to ensure no food that is fit for human consumption will go to waste from their UK stores by the end of the year.

Since launching in February 2016, the initiative has helped provide 11 million meals to over 5,800 charities and community groups, whose service users might otherwise go hungry.

Tesco is now set to extend Community Food Connection to its convenience store on Bulford Road, Durrington, which will significantly extend the number of charities reached and the number of meals given to people in need.

Groups that benefit include homeless shelters, substance abuse rehabilitation services, after-school clubs, foodbanks and domestic violence refuges.

Tesco’s Community Food Connection programme, with FareShare, recruits and supports charities and community groups, linking them to Tesco stores via an app that allows store teams to alert them to surplus unsold food items available at the end of each day.

Rhodri Evans, South West communications manager from Tesco said: “At Tesco we have no time for waste. We’re so proud to already support local charities and community groups through Community Food Connection from our larger stores in Salisbury and to be able to extend that support to our convenience stores is fantastic.

“We are looking forward to forging more strong links with local charities and community groups in Salisbury, and supporting their efforts to help more vulnerable people in our community.”

If you are a charity or community group that could benefit from the support of Community Food Connection, visit fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud to register.