SOME TESCO STORES in the UK have begun a trial giving away expiring food for free to customers, but there are no plans to expand the trial to Ireland.

The retailer already offers a discount to customers on “yellow sticker” items which expire at the end of the day.

However, some of Tesco’s smaller Express stores in the UK are giving away these food items for free to customers after 9.30pm.

Tesco said the expiring food will first be offered to charities and staff, before customers can claim it for free past 9.30pm.

A UK Tesco spokesperson said the supermarket is “constantly looking for innovative new ways to reduce food waste”.

The spokesperson noted that all UK stores offer unsold surplus food to charities and community groups.

“This trial, in a small number of our Express stores, will allow customers to take any remaining yellow stickered items for free at the end of the day, after they have first been offered to charities and colleagues,” said the spokesperson for Tesco UK.

Tesco plans to become carbon neutral across its operations by 2035 and across its entire chain by 2050.

When asked if there were plans to run a similar scheme in Ireland, a spokesperson for Tesco Ireland noted that it is a “small scale trial in the UK only”.

The Tesco Ireland spokesperson added that stores here “work closely with both FoodCloud and Olio to donate perfectly edible surplus food from all our stores every evening”.

FoodCloud and Olio redistribute surplus food from retailers to charities and directly to people in need.

“Any surplus food that’s not donated to charitable organisations is then offered free of charge to our colleagues,” the spokesperson added.

“To date, we’ve donated the equivalent of over 20 million meals to over 350 community organisations across Ireland that support individuals and families in need,” said the spokesperson.