On Saturday, Morrisons announced that it will end edible food waste from its 500 supermarkets across the UK.

Under a new initiative, unsold food that is still safe to eat will be donated to local community organisations, the retailer said. Community groups will be able to come to Morrisons stores to collect food that would previously have been wasted, including both fresh produce and tinned and packaged goods.

The announcement follows a trial run of the initiative in 100 Morrisons stores across Yorkshire and the North-East. The company - one of the UK’s ‘big four’ supermarkets - said that its plan will be extended to all stores by early 2016, as part of the initiative will involve making connections with community groups that can make use of the food.

Morrisons said it is already making efforts to minimise food waste by reducing prices on short-dated food and using these items in staff canteens.

The supermarket’s announcement follows the introduction of a new law to tackle food waste from retail in France (these later stages of the supply chain and consumer waste account for most avoidable waste in developed countries). In May, the French government made it illegal for large supermarkets to spoil or throw away edible food as part of a bid to tackle both waste and food poverty in the country. France’s largest supermarkets will have to sign contracts with charities that can deal with food by July 2016 or face fines amounting to tens of thousands of pounds or even jail time.

In France, protest groups have warned that moves such as this could pass the problems associated with overproduction and the supermarket model onto other groups, or give the false impression that there is a ‘magic bullet’ solution to the problem of food waste.

Commenting on the new initiative, Morrisons spokesperson Andrew Clappen said, “We don’t like the idea of good food going to waste and this programme will ensure that we find a home for the small amount of unsold or used food in our stores.”

Mary McGrath, CEO of FoodCycle, which has worked with Morrisons, added, “We have 10 hubs close to Morrisons stores and we will be taking food from those stores. This will allow us to feed more people who are at risk of loneliness, isolation and hunger and we would urge other organisations to take part.”

Meanwhile, discussing food waste this week, environment secretary Liz Truss has announced that she eats food past its sell-by date and will cut off mouldy parts of food and give suspect items a ‘sniff-test’ to check whether they are OK to eat.