M&S is joining an industry-first coalition turning surplus food from supply chains into millions of free meals.

Through Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS), a collaboration between retailers, suppliers and charities created as part of the Coronation Food Project, surplus food that would otherwise go unused (including ingredients with defective packaging or unused production capacity) is rescued and repurposed into meals, and at scale. Because the food is recovered directly from supply chains, it can be redistributed more efficiently and with a longer shelf life, helping charities access a more predictable and regular supply of food.

As part of this work, M&S has partnered with 2 Sisters Food Group to produce more than 1.5 million pizzas and ready meals, using surplus line capacity. To date, the AFS coalition has provided over ten million meals through these innovations and has an ambition to deliver 30 million meals a year by 2028, by bringing more food businesses into the partnership.

Alex Freudmann, MD of Food at M&S, said: “Alliance Food Sourcing shows what can happen when industry works together to stop good food going to waste and get it to families who need it most. We’re incredibly grateful to our customers for supporting this in our stores, and we’ll continue working with AFS to find new ways to scale this impact.”

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