The Nescafe Azera Coffee should have sold in a supermarket for 3.29 ($6.52), but a manufacturing error meant instead of the advertised 60g its contents weighed in at 59g.
Normally it would have been consigned to landfill but yesterday it was for sale at Britain's first social supermarket for 99p.
It was a similar story for the undamaged but undelivered toiletries returned to the Ocado depot and the incorrectly packaged Muller yoghurts. Despite being in date and popular brands, they were on sale in Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire, among produce 70 per cent cheaper than in normal shops.
The former pit village is among the most deprived communities in Britain. At local schools up to seven in 10 pupils are on free school meals.
"We have shoppers here who are young mums who are holding down two jobs to fit around childcare and school and are still not managing to break through the poverty threshold," said Sarah Dunwell, project leader at Community Shop, which plans to open 20 such social supermarkets by Easter next year.
