It’s National Food Waste Action Week so we’re sharing some special episodes looking at where our food goes and in this case, where it comes from.

Last year, FareShare Greater Manchester redistributed almost 2,000 tonnes of surplus food which would have gone to waste. In real terms, that’s equivalent to 4.6 million meals which went to support 306 charities and community groups across our city and beyond.

Giving surplus food a purpose

This time we’re speaking to three of our super suppliers. They are local food suppliers –  ⁠Hartshead Meats in Tameside⁠, ⁠Holland’s Pies in Lancashire⁠ & ⁠Soreen in Trafford Park⁠. Both Holland’s Pies and Soreen donate surplus food which cannot be sold conventionally. This may be due to short dated products or issues like damaged outer packaging. By giving us that food, which would otherwise go to landfill, we can get it out quickly to community groups and charities who can put it good use immediately. Among the many benefits of doing this, are saving on the cost of disposing of surplus food and achieving ESG targets by saving valuable resources.

Helping the local community

After hearing about Marcus Rashford’s work with FareShare Greater Manchester during the pandemic, Hartshead Meats decided to support us with food donations. Unlike some other of our super suppliers, it’s purely a donation not a way of solving a waste issue. They say they simply want to make a difference in their local community and donate valuable protein to our operation.

If you are a food producer and you’re interested in donating food to support what we do, please get in touch with us. You can either call us on 0161 223 8200 (Option 4), send us an email to: info@fareshare.org.uk or visit our get in touch page using the button below.