Morrisons extends production to restock country's food banks

The chain said the dedicated stock would help “restock the nation’s food banks” in their time of need. It will also be sending deliveries of ambient food, such as canned goods and pasta, to its stores to give to their local food banks direct.

In total, £10m of food will be distributed to food banks.

Morrisons said Britain’s foodbank are suffering badly during the current crisis, as donations have dried up rapidly over the last two weeks and demand has increased. Some community foodbanks have seen a 40 per cent drop in donations.

The supermarket said it will also make it easier for customers to donate to food banks, with purchase limits on items being raised from three to four items and some removed altogether, if they are to be donated.

Drop off points will be created in repurposed in-store cafes.

Morrisons chief executive, David Potts, 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.”

Earlier this month, the chain announced it would create 3,500 jobs to help deal with the surge in demand for home delivery services.

In total, 2,500 pickers and drivers were needed and there were 1,000 new jobs in the company’s distribution centres.

In addition, it launched a customer call centre for orders to be taken over the phone so that people who do not shop online could still order food.