MORRISONS is to help restock the nation’s food banks during the coronavirus outbreak by producing extra food from its foodmaking sites and distributing more food from its stores. 

The Bradford-based firm is the UK’s largest fresh foodmaker and will be running its bakery, egg and fruit and veg packing site for an extra hour every day to make, prepare and pack food required to restock the food banks.

Morrisons will also be sending deliveries of ambient food - such as canned goods and pasta - to its stores to also give to their local food bank. 

Altogether, £10 million of food will be distributed to food banks by Morrisons community champions - in-store colleagues who work with the local community.

Typical items being donated include bread, eggs, orange juice and bags of pasta. 

Britain’s foodbanks, a critical source of food for the most vulnerable in communities, are suffering badly during the current crisis, as donations have dried up rapidly over the last two weeks and demand has increased.

In addition, to make it easier for customers to donate to food banks, purchase limits on items will be raised to four items (from three) and some removed altogether.

Morrisons will create ‘local’ drop-off points for customers to donate products to those in need. Donation hubs in Morrisons’ recently repurposed in-store cafes will collect these additional products for their local food banks. 

David Potts, CEO of Morrisons, said: “As a food maker and shopkeeper we are uniquely placed to help. We know food banks are finding life very difficult and running our manufacturing sites for an extra hour each day to help restock them is the right decision at this time. 

“The core purpose of all 96,537 colleagues at Morrisons is to play our full part in feeding the nation. #ItsMoreThanOurJob.”