IRI and food waste charity, FareShare, have announced a partnership to help better redistribute surplus food in the UK and combat the nation’s food poverty crisis.
The collaboration will see FareShare benefit from IRI’s data, analytics and insights to drive new efficiencies in its business, with a specific focus on identifying areas of surplus food within key manufacturers with greater accuracy. It is hoped the partnership will ensure that a greater volume of would-be food waste can be redistributed to FareShare’s network of nearly 9,500 frontline charities and community groups across the UK.
IRI will also provide barcode data support to FareShare’s operational processes with the aim of using this data is to help improve the scanning capability of the charity, shorten the take-in times of products, and inform weekly insight reports.
Steph Cullen, UK head of manufacturers at IRI, said: “Earlier this year it was reported that 15.5% of all UK households are food insecure – that number will only have increased since the events and challenges that have followed. With our expertise, insights and relationships in the UK groceries space, we knew we could make a real difference to the food waste problem with the right partner. FareShare does incredible work in this area, it’s a real privilege for IRI to be working with the team to tackle this issue. And this is just the start. We’re already in talks to expand the work we’re doing together and look forward to supercharging FareShare’s efforts to help more people during this cost-of-living crisis.”
Simon Millard, FareShare food director, added: “Data can be a true gamechanger in the work we do, and this partnership with IRI will unlock a whole new world of possibilities for us. This partnership will empower FareShare to tap into and redirect surplus food that previously we’d never have known about and it’s already paying off. This month we have identified approximately eight tonnes of sweetcorn which we can distribute from a manufacturer, which came about purely through the use of IRI’s data. We have so many examples of where data can make such a difference; no one wants to see this volume of food going to waste. What’s most exciting about the partnership is that the capabilities we’re now accessing will only become stronger as we continue to strengthen this collaboration.”
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