UNSOLD food will become meals for vulnerable people across the county, thanks to a new scheme from Tesco.

The Auld Brig Road outlet will benefit from a connection with FareShare FoodCloud, a service which will take items from the supermarket's stores and give them to those in need.

Charities and community groups in and around Alloa are now being called upon to register with the project.

Rachel Finn, head of community food programmes at Tesco, said: "No food that can be eaten should go to waste. We’re really excited to start working on this initiative to ensure that any unsold food we have is made use of. 

"We are looking forward to forging strong links with local charities and community groups in Alloa, and to use this initiative to support their efforts to help vulnerable people in our community."

Clackmannanshire's Tesco is amongst some of the first groups of stores to roll out the initiative, following a pilot in 14 branches last year.

This saw the retailer donate over 22 tonnes of food to more than 50 charities – the equivalent of 50,000 meals.

FareShare FoodCloud is the result of a unique three-way partnership bringing the charity, social enterprise and commercial sectors together.

FareShare, a food supply organisation, brings its knowledge of the UK charity food redistribution market and its experience.

FoodCloud, which helps businesses redistribute surplus food, has knowledge of the technology and online applications needed to carry out the project.

Meanwhile, Tesco brings the people and technology required to deliver a reliable and well-managed programme and is the first retailer to invest in, and roll out, FareShare FoodCloud.

The initiative is the latest step in Tesco’s work with FareShare on the provision of surplus food. 

The partnership spans over three years and includes activities which make food available from the supply chain, distribution centres and dotcom centres. 

This has seen nine million meals made up of surplus food donated to over 2,200 charities and community groups across the UK.

Any charities or community groups in Alloa using food to support people that would like to access the scheme, should register their interest by visiting www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud