The giant British supermarket Tesco is launching a pilot program to give away the fresh food it can't sell to those in need.

Tesco officials said nearly 30,000 tons of perishable food like produce, bread and sandwiches were trashed from stores and distribution centers in the last year. That wasted food is now slated to go to women's and homeless shelters, and school breakfast programs.

"This is potentially the biggest single step we've taken to cut food waste, and we hope it marks the start of eliminating the need to throw away edible food in our stores," Tesco Chief Executive Dave Lewis told Reuters.

In a statement, Tesco says they've partnered with UK food redistribution charity FareShare and Irish non-profit FoodCloud to help with collection and delivery. Store managers will use the FoodCloud app to alert charities to the amount of surplus food available each day.

Rival British stores Sainsbury's and Morrisons already have similar programs.

Going even further last month, France passed legislation banning big supermarkets from destroying unsold edible food.

(READ more from Reuters) – Photo by Fruitnet.com

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