This petition has reaped quite a bit of coverage but could use more signatures.
I feel they may not have a strong incentive to sell the imperfect produce though. The tricky part is the moment they start selling imperfect produce cheaper, they may end up getting less revenue because some people who would have paid full price are now paying imperfect produce price.
added to the mix are the people buying imperfect produce because thereâs simply not enough money for the perfect stuff.
If Iâm making an apple pie, I donât really care what the fruit looks like â it will taste just fine. But for something like baked apples, having a pretty,perfectly-shaped apple might prompt me to buy the more expensive ones.
NYTimes:
To combat food waste, Imperfect Produce, a San Francisco Bay Area start-up, sells fresh fruits and vegetables that never make it to grocery store shelves.
I find it unlikely that the big retailers will sell âimperfectsâ at lower cost as they would take shelf space and cut into higher prifit goods. This is no reason to throw away however the uglies are fine for making prepared foods or discount markets. The prodicers need to find the market but the sad fact that its more cost effective to chuck edible produce is sad
Thatâs one way to make use of overripe or produce that âdoesnât make the cutâ.
Thanks for the link. Those numbers are startlingly large for a region where a comparatively small proportion of land is farmed. Possibly the logistics of doing this in warmer areas, where thereâs a longer growing season and more food produced, would be daunting. There could well be more gleanable food than can be collected/distributed locally. Hopefully, ways around that could be devised.
Blemished, misshapen and âunderweightâ produce is often the tastiest stuff at the farmerâs market, but another reason to get behind the âeat uglyâ movement is the beneficial impact it could have on climate change:
What a great idea.
More reminders to look for and eat ugly produced â and some great pix of same
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0908-figuereido-ugly-fruit-20150908-story.html
Good analysis of why ugly food is here to stay (we hope!)
Does anyone else âcontributeâ to Bountiful Baskets? When I picked up my produce today I realize that they do this to at least some extent. Carrots are usually very round and short, romaine lettuce tall and skinny, cabbage with the outer leaves still attached, ect. Plus you donât know what you are getting so Iâm sure they are taking advantage of produce that is marked down for what ever reason.
A guy based in Maryland was on Shark Tank last night hawking just this idea:
http://www.hungryharvest.net/#how-it-works
Iâd be more enthusiastic if his âimperfect produceâ service didnât cost more than the CSA (open to anyone, no income restrictions) run through the New York City Greenmarket:
http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarketco/foodbox
Greenmarket: $12 a box. Hungry Harvest: $15 - $35 a box. At least one Shark dug it, though. Investment opportunity!
Whole Foods has decided to comply with the wishes of the petitioners.
Our grocery store sells imperfect mushrooms. 2lbs for the price of one. I get them every week, along with bags of imperfect apples.
I suspect it has more to do with trying to provide a lower, cheaper line of produce as an alternative and attract more price conscious customers into the store, similar to their 365 store brand strategy. And this will give them a progressive way to do it.
people should garden more. itâs a kick to pull up a five-legged carrotâŚ
our Red Pontiac potatoes went el goofy maximal last year. the vines kept going for near forever; some spuds were humongous - 2 and 3 softball âobjectsâ grown togetherâŚ
actually we just finished up the last of our homegrown crop. we dug them, stored on a rack in the unheated garage - we had essentially no sprouting thru end of Feb - the âperfectâ store potatoes start sprouting about 4-5 days out of the bag. no, we didnât spray ours, no theyâre not stored with the onions . . .
itâs one thing for a company to deliver âugly produceâ - how did the Ugli tomatoes make it? itâs another issue when bumps / bruises / cuts / etc start to show spoilage spots on the fruit/veg.
our market regularly culls thru the bins to toss out stuff with âdamageâ - not cosmetic appearance stuff - deep brown spots on a pear⌠no, not gonna go to well⌠food banks wonât take the culls; I suggested to the store manager he simply put them in a bag, off to the side, labelled âfree to a good homeâ - they could easily track the sales via an in-store UPC code. he gave me a lookâŚI actually never thought I was that strangeâŚ
so this is an issue of selling âprettyâ produce in one aisle, and âuglyâ produce in another aisle. think about that - I can see miles and miles of âissuesâ to that scenario.
given Giantâs mouth music on âecologyâ I suggested to his predecessor and to him: âYoâ Adrian - how about a bucket for battery recycling?â no action. there is no place within my regular circles to dispose of my wireless keyboard AA batteries⌠no, Iâm not driving to Gettysburg to their âapprovedâ recycleâ center. our local BestBuy (and all of PA) shut down their electronic recycling - they want $25 to scrap a CRT or an old computerâŚ
and my 5 kilos of 00 flour arrived todayâŚI should plot some pizzaâŚ