Lidl has announced a major change affecting UK stores in an effort to help people with rising food costs amid the cost of living crisis. 

The budget supermarket chain has launched a new label that will help those who are relying on food banks.

The 'Good to Give' trustmark, which is thought to be an industry first, aims to diversify the donations being given to struggling families as people face the cost-of-living crisis. 

People looking to donate to food banks can find the label on 30 different items across all Lidl stores in the UK.

The shelf labels will highlight selected long-life items offering a greater variety of nutritional benefits.

The 30 products selected include tinned fruit, lentils, mackerel, noodles, and brown rice.

Once picked, the item can be given to food donation points located past the checkouts in Lidl stores, ready for the supermarket to deliver them to food banks.

The items will be collected regularly by local food banks and community projects. 

'Good To Give' was developed by Lidl in consultation with Neighbourly, a platform that connects surplus food with local good causes, and will be trialled for six months. 

The initiative comes after 87% of charities reported requiring a greater range of food types to be donated, to help those in need have a healthy, balanced diet.

Over nine in ten charities believe it will have a significant impact on their organisation and the communities they serve.

Ryan McDonnell, chief executive officer at Lidl GB, said: “At Lidl, we’re committed to making good food accessible to everyone and now, more than ever, it’s important that we stay true to this.

“We’ve been listening to feedback from our charity partners on how we can best support them at this time.

“Through these conversations it became clear we can play a leading role in helping those relying on food banks to maintain a more nutritious, balanced diet by encouraging our customers to donate a little differently.

“We hope that more retailers will adopt the ‘Trustmark’ so that we can work together as an industry to help more people access the balanced and nutritious diet that they need.”

Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly, added: "Through our work with local charities and good causes, supported by our latest community insights surveys, we can see how the cost of living crisis is causing steep rises in demand for food banks and front-line services.

“This is only going to increase in the coming months. With the launch of this new initiative, Lidl is demonstrating that they are truly committed to finding innovative ways to support their customers and local communities.”

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