Thousands of meals have been donated to community groups and charities to help those who need it most as part of a national food scheme.

Tesco has donated 76,829 meals of surplus food in and around Ely through the community food connection scheme, with 50 million meals donated by the supermarket across the UK and almost 700 groups have signed up to the scheme during the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the charities to benefit from the scheme, which works with food redistribution charity FareShare, is Branching Out in Littleport which helps improve the lives of adults with complex learning disabilities.

Susan Wiggans, general manager at Branching Out, said: “We’re hugely grateful for Tesco for the surplus food.

“Without it, we’d have to purchase the items ourselves, which would leave us with much less budget to use on supporting vulnerable members of our community.”

Jason Tarry, CEO of Tesco UK, added: “Tesco community food connection has made a real difference to communities. However, there is more to do, and we are looking at how we can divert even more food from waste in future.”