Colleagues will receive weekly rewards into June for their work during the crisis and will also get big discounts while shopping in Waitrose supermarkets.

Much of the new scheme will be in food donations to groups such as FareShare and Trussell Trust, whilst it also provides aid to other groups that serve those in need.

Full time colleagues will earn a bonus of £1,050 compared to around £350 average last year. The special bonus is the largest for frontline supermarket staff announced in recent weeks

Chop Chop gives the UK supermarket a chance to increase its offer during outbreak, especially to those in need; company will consider expanding if it goes well.

Report says "the ‘healthfulness halo’ around fresh produce could be a positive demand factor that ends up lasting longer than the COVID-19 outbreak."

Sainsbury's and Tesco lead the way as all of the Big Four post strong numbers year-on-year, mainly due to extra purchases by consumers during the coronavirus pandemic.

A soon-to-be shortage of pickers is prompting a call to action from the government and other agencies to have those who are out of work fill in the gaps on farms nationwide.

Top five supermarkets enact measures to aide with social distancing, providing safety for customers and colleagues; challenges remain, especially for online ordering, which faces weeks of backlog.

Aldi's ‘Growing Futures’ deal with Farm Africa has helped more than 500 farmers increase production of fresh produce in western Kenya and provide networking opportunities.

CEO Whitfield says, 'The response has been overwhelming ... All of our colleagues are heroes and are doing an amazing job under huge pressure.'