Supermarket giant Tesco is calling for charities and community groups to register for a new food donation scheme which will see unsold food become meals for vulnerable people.

The programme, in conjunction with FareShare, a service distributing unsold food directly to those in need, will allow staff to send alerts through an app to those who have registered about food items available at the end of each day.

Jenny Prestland, community champion at the High Wycombe store by the Eden Centre, said it will help many individuals and families in the area who badly need the food.

Tesco bosses admitted they wasted 55,400 tonnes of food last year, of which one per cent was wasted in stores.

Jessica Walker, regional communications manager, said the one per cent of waste at store level was “still not good enough”, which is why the supermarket rolled out the initiative last year.

The food will be free and include fresh produce, such as fruit, vegetables and bakery products. Chilled products like meat, dairy and ready meals will also be offered.

Heather Stanley, a trustee at food bank One Can Trust in High Wycombe said the scheme was welcome in the area and while it would not yet be able to take advantage of it due to a lack of space at its current premises, it was looking forward to doing so in future.

Sheena Dykes, chair of trustees at Wycombe Homeless Connection echoed Ms Stanley’s thoughts. She said: “It’s great that Tesco are rolling out a national scheme to donate suitable unsold food to local community groups and charities.”

Since its pilot in 14 stores last year and a national rollout from March this year, the scheme has seen 712 charities sign up so far and 275,000 meals donated to people in need.

Rachel Finn, head of community food programmes, said: “We are looking forward to forging strong links with charities and community groups in Gerrards Cross, High Wycombe, Amersham and Princes Risborough, and to use this initiative to support their efforts to help vulnerable people in our community.”

To register, go to www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud.