Retailer Revives Food-Donation Program

Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, is reinstating a food-donation program it ended in 2006, when it decided to give cash instead, reports the Associated Press.

Working with America’s Second Harvest, a national network of food banks, Sam’s Club representatives said on Wednesday that they are establishing a pilot program at about 560 of their 593 U.S. stores and expect the program to be operating by late summer.

The Wal-Mart Foundation, the charitable branch of the Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart Stores, also announced that it is giving a $1.5-million donation to America’s Second Harvest, whose headquarters are in Chicago. Foundation officials said the money is expected to provide about 16 million meals.

Wal-Mart announced in January 2006 that it was stopping perishable food donations by individual Sam’s Clubs and Wal-Mart stores, partly out of concern for food safety.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the new program has been set up in a way that ensures safe handling of perishable foods.