Morrisons to ramp up food production to restock food banks

The supermarket chain said it would produce extra food from its food production sites and distribute more food from its stores. The food is expected to be distributed by end of July 2020. 

Morrisons said that, as the UK’s largest fresh food-maker, it would be running its bakery, egg and fruit & veg packing site ​for an extra hour every day to make, prepare and pack food required to restock the food banks 

It will also be sending deliveries of ambient food – such as canned goods and pasta – to its stores to also give to their local food bank. Typical items being donated included bread, eggs, orange juice and bags of pasta.

Food banks​

Britain’s food banks have called for help in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. They said donations had dried up as people resorted to food panic-buying and there had been an increase in demand. Last week, food charity FareShare appealed for donations from the food industry to help support vulnerable people during the Coronavirus crisis. 

FareShare CEO Lindsay Boswell said the sharp increase in consumer demand had resulted in a decline in the amount of surplus food coming into the charity sector.  

Donations​

Morrisons said that, to make it easier for customers to donate to food banks, purchase limits on items would be raised to four items (from three) and some removed altogether. 

Morrisons is to create ‘local’ drop-off points for customers to donate products to those in need, while donation hubs in Morrisons’ recently repurposed in-store cafés would collect these additional products for local food banks. 

David Potts, CEO of Morrisons, said: “As a food maker and shopkeeper we are uniquely placed to help. We know food banks are finding life very difficult and running our manufacturing sites for an extra hour each day to help restock them is the right decision at this time​ ​

“The core purpose of all 96,537 colleagues at Morrisons is to play our full part in feeding the nation. #ItsMoreThanOurJob.”​