Supermarket giant Morrisons has announced it will distribute £10m worth of groceries to food banks during the coronavirus outbreak.
The supermarket, which is headquartered in Bradford and has 293 stores in the UK, said it is running its bakery, egg and fruit and veg packing site for an extra hour a day to make, prepare and pack food to restock the food banks.
It comes after food banks reported they were running low on essential items in the past few weeks. It is estimated the COVID-19 outbreak has led to a 40 per cent reduction in donation to community food banks across the country.
Morrison will also be sending deliveries of shelf-stable food, such as dried pasta and tinned goods, to its stores where ‘community champions’ - in-store colleagues who work with the local community - will give the goods to their local food bank, it said.
The supermarket said it will re-purpose its in-store cafes to create drop-off points for customers to donate items.
Purchase limits on items will be raised from three items to four items to make it easier for customers to donate items, it said.
Morrisons chief executive David Potts 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.”
