The East of England Co-op has received another national award for its local food sourcing initiative.

It picked up the Supply Chain Sourcing Initiative of the Year title at the Hermes and Retail Week Supply Chain Awards, held at the London Hilton hotel.

The judges were impressed by the Sourced Locally scheme, under which locally grown and made products are delivered direct to stores, straight from the fields and factories of producers across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

Other winners at the awards included John Lewis, Sainsburys and Starbucks.

Roger Grosvenor, retail executive officer at the East of England Co-op, said: “We are enormously proud of our Sourced Locally initiative and we are delighted that it has been recognised at a national level, especially at a ceremony filled with some of the nation’s top retailers.”

Kevin Warden, the society’s local and fresh food manager, added: “We work with more than 140 suppliers in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to ensure they can deliver their products direct to stores in their community. This means we can have products such as fresh fruit and vegetables on our shelves the same day as they’ve been picked.”

Other recent awards for the Sourced Locally initiative have included the Dairy Crest Rural Action Award in the Responsible Business Awards, run by Business in the Community, and the Food and Farming Excellence award in the EADT Business Awards. It has also been shortlisted for the Farming Partnership of the Year title at the British Farming Awards on October 23.