MARKS and Spencers has apologised after shoppers were outraged to find dozens of unsold loaves of bread dumped in a wheelie bin.

The bread was binned instead of being distributed to the homeless or staff, as is company policy.

Pictures taken outside M&S food hall in Montague Street, Worthing, show loaves dumped in bins behind the shop.

Horrified shopper and local resident, Eddie Mitchell said: “As a regular customer, they reduce all the food every night.

“Elderly people go in there looking for bargains at the end of the day. I thought I would buy some of the nice bread if it was being reduced.

“Everything else is reduced, so why not the bread?

“There were 30 or 40 loaves there.

“All different types of bread as well.

“I asked and they said it was all going in the bin now.

“I was horrified and upset, it was such a waste.

“I had a quick look round the back and was even more horrified to find it was all there.”

A spokesman for M&S said they had introduced new bakery technology as part of their commitment to halving food waste by 2025.

“As part this we’ve introduced new technology to help ensure we bake the right amount to reduce waste and minimise the need for end of day reductions.

“When there is bakery surplus, our priority is for it to end up on a person’s plate through our food redistribution programme or it is offered in our colleague catering areas.

“We apologise that this approach wasn’t followed by our Worthing store on this occasion.

“Any remaining surplus is always used to create energy to power homes and businesses and no M&S products will ever go to waste.”

M&S foodhalls have been baking smaller batches more frequently throughout the day to minimise waste and the need for end of day reductions since February, the company said.

“When there is surplus food, our priority is for it to end up on a person’s plate through our food redistribution programme – our Worthing store donates surplus food to Empty Plate and Friends Of Worthing Hospital.”

The company admitted their usual approach was not followed at Worthing.

“We have spoken to the store and we apologise for this isolated incident,” the M&S spokesperson said.