Lidl hopes to give people reliant on food banks access to a more nutritionally varied diet, with a new initiative guiding customers on what to donate.
The discounter has selected 30 long-life food lines, modelled using the NHS Eatwell Guide to a balanced diet, and signposted them as ‘Good to Give’ in shelf labelling.
Lidl said it aimed to “help the rising numbers of people relying on food banks to get the varied diet they need”.
The aim is to encourage customers to select these products to leave at food donation points in stores. From there, they will be collected by food banks and community groups.
Lidl’s food donation work is partnership with Neighbourly, the redistribution programme that links retailers with community groups and charities.
Lidl said it had also developed the Good to Give mark with Neighbourly, after 87% of charities surveyed by the redistribution group reported needing a greater range of food types.
“At Lidl, we’re committed to making good food accessible to everyone and now, more than ever, it’s important that we stay true to this,” said Lidl GB CEO Ryan McDonnell.
“We’ve been listening to feedback from our charity partners on how we can best support them at this time. Through these conversations it became clear we can play a leading role in helping those relying on food banks to maintain a more nutritious, balanced diet by encouraging our customers to donate a little differently.
“We hope that more retailers will adopt the ‘Trustmark’ so that we can work together as an industry to help more people access the balanced and nutritious diet that they need.”
Neighbourly CEO Steve Butterworth said: “Through our work with local charities and good causes, supported by our latest community insights surveys, we can see how the cost of living crisis is causing steep rises in demand for food banks and frontline services.
“This is only going to increase in the coming months. With the launch of this new initiative, Lidl is demonstrating that they are truly committed to finding innovative ways to support their customers and local communities.”
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