McCain Foods Donates GBP20m of Potatoes, Furloughs Staff

McCain Foods has announced a donation to help out Food Banks Canada, Second Harvest and other local food security organizations across the country.

According to lethbridgenewsnow.com, the company has announced they’re donating 20-million pounds of potato products to the various organizations. They stated that the commitment represents 60 million servings of potatoes that will be provided to Canadian communities that are struggling with food insecurity during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

“Over recent weeks the Canadian Food system has been stretched by the impacts of COVID-19. It has left many of our most vulnerable neighbors struggling for access to food,” read a press release.

“This donation by McCain Foods will help provide access to additional food sources to those in need.”

McCain Foods is also engaging its subsidiary Day & Ross, one of Canada’s largest transportation companies, to help get the donations to those in need as soon as possible. The release stated that even before the health crisis, more than one million visits were made to food banks across Canada each month, according to Food Banks Canada’s Hunger Count report.

“Because of COVID-19, many local food drives typically held this time of year are cancelled. McCain Food’s significant donation will help replenish the inventory at a time when food donations have drastically decreased,” said Chris Hatch, CEO, Food Banks Canada, in the release.

McCain’s most recent announcement comes in addition to about USD1.3m in donations from the McCain Foundation made last week to provide support to food banks, shelters, community kitchens and school programs in New Brunswick, Manitoba and in Alberta.

In other news, McCain Foods announced its intention to furlough some staff after a slump in demand from restaurants and pubs forced to close by Covid-19 pandemic.

Peterboroughtoday.co.uk reports that frozen chips giant McCain Foods, which has 1,600 staff at its factories in Funthams Lane, Whittlesey, and at Grantham, Hull and Scarborough, says it will reduce its production until demand returns.

A spokesperson for McCain Foods said: “While we continue to see strong sales of our products in supermarkets and retailers across the country, as a result of the shutting down of the hospitality sector, total demand has been significantly reduced. In response to this, we will be temporarily scaling back production to match reduced demand and will be furloughing some employees as part of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. These temporary measures are to preserve jobs and ensure a sustainable business in the long term. We remain committed to all our employees and ongoing operations in the UK and, when customer demand dictates that full production resumes, we look forward to welcoming our employees back. All furloughed employees will maintain their existing salaries and we would like to thank all of our team for their commitment and understanding during these extraordinary times."