29-07-2025
How unsold food is making its way to hungry Londoners
A skid of food at Food Basics being loaded onto a London Food Bank refrigerator truck, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
At a time of unprecedented demand at the London Food Bank, a food recovery program at several local grocery stores is preventing tonnes of nutritious meals from going to waste.
'The One More Bite program, it makes me proud to be a part of it,' explained Chris Coombs, manager of the Food Basics at 1200 Commissioners Road.
'We have a lot of people in the community that are struggling right now.'
Nine of the Metro and Food Basics stores in London participate in the food recovery program.
As a product's 'best before' date approaches, its price is often discounted by the store.
If it hasn't sold by the night of the 'best before' date, the unsold meat, dairy, bakery products, and prepared meals are loaded onto skids and frozen to await collection by the London Food Bank.
'We focus mainly on healthy, nutritious products,' added Coombs.
'And it feels good to be able to give back (and) prevent it from going to waste.'
One More Bite London Food Bank contributions
Food Basics Manager Chris Coombs explains how food is selected for donation to the London Food Bank, seen in London, Ont. on July 29, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
On Tuesday, the store loaded two skids of products onto a refrigerator truck from the London Food Bank.
'When you look at what's come in over those past number of years from One More Bite, it's been hundreds and hundreds of tonnes worth of food,' said Jane Roy of the London Food Bank.
Province-wide last year, One More Bite saved 2.6 million kilograms of food, which is equal to about 5.2 million meals provided by food banks.
Roy said the London Food Bank has been involved in the program since 2019 and received steady growth in both the volume and variety of food received.
It's become a vital part of meeting unprecedented demand.
'We're serving double what we did before the pandemic. It's 5,800 families a month, or about 17,000 individuals a month, getting help from the food bank. So, this food we're going through really quickly,' Roy explained.
Coombs described it as a team effort.
'I'm extremely proud of my staff,' he said.
'We're one of the highest contributing stores for Food Basics. My team is very engaged in it!'
There are 247 Metro and Food Basics stores participate in the One More Bite program across Ontario.
