SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has revealed it has donated more than 40,000 meals of surplus food to vulnerable people across Renfrewshire in the past five years.

The donations have been made through the company’s community food connection scheme, which it operates with food redistribution charity FareShare.

Every Tesco store in the UK participates, with more than a million meals donated each month.

The Renfrewshire total of 40,175 was revealed as the supermarket hit a milestone of 50 million meals being donated across the UK.

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 an app to tell a local charity or community group what food can be collected.

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK chief executive, said: “There is more to do and we are looking at how we can divert even more food from waste in future.”

Read all the latest from Renfrewshire and beyond

******************

Scotland is in lockdown. Shops are closing and newspaper sales are falling fast. We're not exaggerating when we say the future of local newspapers and the vital service we have provided for many years is under threat.

Please consider supporting The Gazette in whatever way you can - by paying just 90p for a copy of the newspaper when you're shopping for essential supplies for yourself and others or by subscribing to our e-edition here.