A spokesperson said Tesco Ireland noted that stores donate surplus food every evening and that anything not donated is offered to staff for free.

Tesco is to begin a trial giving expiring food to customers for free at the end of the day as it tries to cut food waste. The supermarket will give away some already discounted "yellow sticker" items after 21:30 in some of its smaller Express stores in coming months.

The supermarket is trialling a scheme which will allow customers to take any remaining yellow sticker items for free at the end of the day.

A major British supermarket will hand out food for free in a bid to reduce food waste and hit net zero goals. Tesco plans to give away food which is about to go out of date at absolutely no cost. The cost-slashing yellow sticker will be revolutionised and mean the item is completely free after 9.30pm.

Tesco is giving away surplus food to customers in a new trial across some of its Express convenience stores. It will see shoppers offered any remaining yellow-stickered goods for free at the end of the day after they have been offered to charities and colleagues first.

While all major supermarket chains partner with food banks and community groups to redistribute surplus food and offer discounts on expiring items, Tesco's initiative appears to be the first direct-to-customer scheme of its kind in the UK.

The new scheme is set to be trialled in a small number of Tesco Express stores with any food that is about to go out of date marked with a yellow label and given away to customers

The supermarket giant is giving away yellow sticker food for free in a major shake-up - but it's only available at select Tesco Express outlets for a limited time

Tesco is set to launch a new scheme allowing customers to snap up free food in Express stores after 9:30pm. The supermarket giant will offer items marked "Reduced to Clear" at no cost as part of a trial aimed at reducing food waste.