UK Food Industry Unites To Tackle Hunger Through Nationwide Campaign And Supply Chain Innovation

Five of the UK’s leading supermarkets have joined forces in an unprecedented collaboration to tackle food poverty, launching a nationwide fundraising campaign alongside a broader industry initiative to redistribute surplus food to those in need.

The campaign, titled Let’s Make a Meal of It, is running throughout April across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, enabling millions of customers to donate in-store and online. Every £1 raised will fund the equivalent of five meals for people facing hunger.

The initiative comes against a stark backdrop, with an estimated 11 million people in the UK experiencing hunger, including three million children. At the same time, redistribution charities continue to face mounting pressure due to limited food supply and the high cost of transporting donations.

To address these challenges, the campaign forms part of a wider industry collaboration under the Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS) coalition, established through the Coronation Food Project. The coalition brings together around 50 food businesses with a shared aim of unlocking surplus food from across the supply chain and redirecting it to frontline charities.

A central focus of the initiative is tackling the estimated 4.6 million tonnes of food wasted annually before it reaches consumers. Much of this surplus—often the result of production changes, packaging issues or specification variations—remains perfectly edible but difficult for charities to access in its current form.

Participating businesses are investing in new processes and partnerships to make this food usable, while also piloting innovative logistics solutions to reduce distribution costs. A project led by Sainsbury’s is exploring the use of spare capacity in delivery lorries to transport surplus food more efficiently—an approach that could save charities millions of pounds over time.

The initiative has already demonstrated the potential impact of industry-wide collaboration. Previous efforts linked to the campaign have delivered millions of meals, with ambitions to scale significantly in the coming years.

Funds raised will support leading redistribution charities, including FareShare and The Felix Project, which together supply food to thousands of community organisations across the UK.

Industry leaders have emphasised that the campaign represents a significant shift in how competitors can collaborate to address systemic challenges. By combining fundraising with supply chain innovation, the sector is seeking to create a more efficient and sustainable model for tackling both food waste and food insecurity.

With demand for food support continuing to rise, the initiative underlines the growing importance of coordinated action across the supply chain—bringing retailers, suppliers and logistics providers together to deliver practical, scalable solutions to one of the UK’s most pressing social issues.