Coles trucks to feed the hungry

MORE than four million people could not put food on their tables last year.

Coles is stepping up to the plate and serving a $500,000 grant to fund four new trucks to food charity SecondBite so they can deliver meals to those who are doing it tough.

The refrigerated trucks, funded from the Coles Nurture Fund, will collect unsold, edible food from Coles' distribution centres and deliver it to charities providing 180,000 extra meals every week to people facing hardship.

It follows a new five-year agreement between Coles and SecondBite that will increase food collections from Coles' metropolitan supermarkets from three days to five days a week.

Coles CEO Steven Cain said food donations to SecondBite rose 25 per cent in 2018-19 - the equivalent of 4.6 million more meals.

Mr Cain expects these volumes would increase later this year.

"Everyone deserves to have regular meals and our SecondBite partnership is one of the ways in which we hope to sustainably feed Australians to lead healthier, happier lives," he said.

SecondBite CEO Jim Mullan said the new trucks won't only enable the charity to collect more food, but also transport a greater variety of stock including yoghurts, cheese, butter, milk, juice and frozen products.