I love the fact that more grocery stores are beginning to sell fresh produce at a discounted price if it’s misshaped or not visually appealing. Honestly though I can’t believe that it’s such a big deal to consumers and retailers that consumers actually won’t buy misshaped produce, so retailers will eliminate all of their produce that is misshaped or has excess bumps or other deformations. So much of this produce goes to waste when grocery stores throw out their deformed veggies and fruit. The article quotes that “Just over 1% of food wasted in the UK, ~200,000 tones, comes from stores”. In Canada, as much as 25 million pounds of fresh produce is wasted every year.
Recently, grocery stores have turned this into a new campaign/ ‘fab’, i.e., intermarché a French grocery store launched a new campaign, The Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables last year on deformed fruits and veggies and even gave each type of vegetable or fruit a unique profile. They allocated a section of their store for this type of produce and marketed it using print media and bus advertisements. The campaign turned to be a success; the campaign brought more buzz to the store and increased store traffic by 24%. Last year, Loblaw’s hopped on the bandwagon and started their ‘Naturally Imperfect’ product line to sell misshaped produce at a 30% discount.
I hope all grocery stores start doing this because it will eliminate so much unnecessary waste that is currently happening with produce that is perfectly good to eat, but may not look good on the outside. Produce like this can be used in stews or soups or even other cooking that doesn’t require seeing the outside skin of the vegetable. There are so many recipes that these products can go into. It would be powerful if Whole Foods Market, Choices Market, Greens, and other similar higher-end grocery stores would start participating in the trend, because it would show their commitment to sustainability and reducing waste.
I believe consumers who have a price sensitive shopping approach would be attracted to this type of price-reduced produce. Also consumers with sustainable values, such as ‘green consumers’ would really appreciate the wonky veggie trend too.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/asda-puts-uks-first-supermarket-wonky-veg-box-on-sale
CameronKingston
February 9, 2016 — 11:21 am
I’ve always hated the fact that every item of produce in grocery stores appears so “perfect”. It pleases me that a chain as big as Loblaw’s has begun selling produce that isn’t perfect in appearance. What I hope is that one day they don’t even have to discount it. Consumers need to realize that what they are paying for is the nutritional value of the food, not its appearance. Most produce gets chopped or mashed or otherwise altered in its appearance before reaching the table anyway.
GabyHebert
February 10, 2016 — 4:44 pm
I totally agree with you Liora, ‘ugly’ fruits and vegetables should not be excluded from our food system, not only is it wasteful but a huge inefficiency of the system. In my personally opinion I would be willing to buy a unique looking piece of produce rather than a typical ‘pretty’ one, especially if it comes at a discounted price. Additionally I wonder what made beauty a trend in food, don’t we eat sustain ourselves, if it has the same nutrient why aren’t people willing to eat it? Some companies are actually purely based on delivering this ‘ugly’ produce Imperfect provides delivery all over the Bay area in California. This is an untapped market in Vancouver, as I can’t find any grocery store currently participating. Hopefully Zero Waste Market opens soon and we can get our fill of ‘ugly produce’.
shomasmah
March 22, 2016 — 11:11 am
I think it is interesting to consider that the typical grocery store will throw out certain produce because it is not “perfect”. Consumers have now adopted an expectation of what their fruits or veggies should look like. Oranges should be bright orange. Russet potatoes should be oval shaped. Apples mainly come in red and green. I’m assuming it was grocery stores that began only stocking produce in this variety because it was the most pleasing, which shaped the consumer expectation and demand for such goods. The “ugly produce” has been so far removed from commercial sales that it is foreign and seen as less value. The point Liora is alluding to is that this produce should have no less value and it’s a bargain to buy at a cheaper price. I agree, and if we take a step back, we realize that this is perfect produce.