This Crop Scientist List All The Reasons Why ‘Ugly’ Fruits Do Not Cause Food Waste And It’s Eye-Opening
Grocery stores are usually filled with perfectly shaped vegetables and fruits, so you rarely see any oddly shaped produce lying on the shelf. The farmers know that consumers are picky and ignore all the funny looking veggies so they usually don’t even bother to deliver them to the stores. The ‘ugly’ produce movement claims that the buyers scouting for perfect produce are to blame for billions of pounds of perfectly edible veggies and fruits going to waste.
While there’s nothing wrong with encouraging people to be less picky, some people say that ‘shallow’ consumers are not the ones to blame for the food waste problem. According to crop scientist and ex-farmer, Dr. Sarah Taber, ‘ugly’ produce do not contribute to food waste at all, because even the ugliest fruits and veggies find a way to the consumer, just usually in a different form.
When someone shared an article which states “Up to two-fifths of fruit and veg crop is wasted because it is ‘ugly’, report finds” Taber created a thread to explain why she disagree
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Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
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Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
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Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
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Taber then talks about the real food waste we should be worrying about
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Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Here’s how people reacted to the thread
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A relative of mine grows tomatoes. 3 tonnes of it goes to waste each year because it doesn't meet 'certain requirements' (ie, isn't round enough, is too round, isn't red enough, has a mark, doesn't look fresh enough even though it is, other BS reasons). And by waste I don't mean sell to go into salsa like this woman says, I mean WASTE. 3 tonnes can feed a lot of people. And this is just one farmer. The ironic part is he sells to Woolworths...(have an 'odd bunch'/ugly fruit thing going on).
Maybe it depends on the country you live in. They all have different regulations I'm sure.
Load More Replies...
This thing was explained to meat school so for a long time I have known that ugly fruits and vegetables are usually fed to the animals (for example farms and zoos) or those are used to make many types of foods. Only the best looking plants are available from the shops.
I read your post as "explained at meat school" and thought, cool, like a food oriented program. I'd be interested in that!
Load More Replies... Anyone who has ever had a garden and/or fruit trees are well aware of "ugly" produce and that it tastes no different from "pretty" produce. It's a little more difficult to prepare due to its odd shape but that's the only difference.
I couldn't agree more. Furthermore, as someone who gardens and has fruit trees it really makes me wonder how they yeild such high quantities of the "pretty" stuff.
Load More Replies...
With the "ugly fruit" in Australia...esp in Woolworths they have a "odd bunch" collection. Its where the carrots that aren't straight, the apples that are too small, the pears that are marked or a funny shape, the odd shaped sweet potatoes and the such. They are pre packed/set weight for the "poor people" I guess but for someone like me (who only has me to feed) who doesn't eat huge amounts its awesome with small foods
I think they would sell a lot more if they did this here too. Normally they don't separate anything here, so of course people will buy the good looking produce whenever they can, after all, it's the same price, so why should they get ugly stuff when they're paying full price? If there was a discount for the ugly produce, you bet people would be rushing to buy it.
Load More Replies...
it's interesting but she could have done it without the conscending tone. She works in the industry so of course she has more knowledge about it, but not everyone does
Some of the "ugly" fruits and vegetables are really interesting though. Maybe the produce industry should add another step in which they get photographed before they get cooked into salsa.
That's actually a really smart idea. I guarantee you could make some niche Whole Foods $8 jar of salsa or soup if you show how 'friendly' your sources are.
Load More Replies...
I can vouch for this after working produce at Whole Foods. Whenever produce was getting close to spoilage, we'd process it into something else. Avocados became Guacamole, tomatoes and onions became salsa, peppers/zucchini/onions became stir fry veggies and squashed were peeled and diced for easy use. We would also let deli know and they would come retrieve some of the fruit and veg for salads and hot bar use. Most gets used..some gets tossed. But tossed veg and fruit that was not moldy went to local farms to feed livestock or went to farmers to be turned into soil for planting other crops. If you went to the landfills..you would see the majority of vegetables that are tossed are lettuces and delicate leafy greens.
This really only applies to the US. And shops still throe away tons of fruit and veggies for tiny flaws long after this woman's job is over. She's basically accused the Guardian of lying.
This isn’t entirely true, certainly not in Oz where the supermarket duopoly means many producers are locked into contracts and they absolutely do end up pulping and trashing produce which doesn’t pass ludicrous appearance standards. Sometimes they can find secondary markets but a lot of it just gets ploughed.
Good points and obvious knowledge but yeah she should summarize.
It's a deformity called "Collar of Slips" which is usually the result of over-fertilization.
Load More Replies...
I work at a grocery store and they let us take home "ugly" produce for free all the time. I think this is what EVERY grocery store should be required to do. Give the unappealing/expired food to employees and/or donate it. At my first job, which was a different grocery store chain, we threw out tons of food everyday, and it was honestly so depressing. Employees would be fired at stores like this if they were caught taking anything out of the garbage, and it's kind of messed up honestly.
I'm always amused by the pet food commercials that say they only use the purest, choicest pieces of meat for their cat food or dog food. What do you think your pet would eat in the wild? Using bits and scraps of meat, and byproducts, in pet food is a very good method of using the whole animal after slaughter.
I think the real problem is people throwing away food. Too many regulations preventing restaurants from donating food. We really buy too much, because we're too lazy to go to market every day or every other day and buy only what we need. Basically talking about proteins and produce here. I struggle with this since I have good intentions of eating all the produce, but feel bad every time I throw out the rotten lettuce or the hairy soft carrots...
I had no idea, and our supermarker is now selling these 'ugly' fruits and veggies. I bought them a couple of times because I thought I was doing a good thing, not adding more waste and also because there cheaper. But now I know that wasn't really the case. If I buy them now, it's just 'healthy' for my wallet.
This is rubbish when regarding the UK, lots of crop ends up being ploughed back into the fields, though not all is ugly, some are harvested crops ordered by the supermarkets and then the ordered are cancelled after the harvest has commenced.
Dr Sarah Taber's grammar, spelling and sentence structure is so appalling, I stopped reading after two tweets. Far out. She needs to learn to make her point in a calm and rational manner, then maybe she'll have more readers.
Really eye opening! Thanks a lot for all that information! I love posts like that!
it is not the waste generated in the supply chain that we should be worried about, most of it would be processed or go towards animal feed. I think we should be more worries about the food many of us waste on our plate. how many of us clean our plate of food at every meal? most of the leftovers wind up in the trash. i also would like to know how much of food and edible resources are wasted in the endless number of cooking shows
Thank you. I loved the entire rant. I had no idea exactly how produce is handled behind the scenes. Love learning new stuff. Great pic of the party animal at the end! That boy is ready for anything.
Looks as though Richard Nixon has been reincarnated as an aubergine!
I know it's in Europe, but here we waste because fruits and vegetables are calibrated. So yes, sometimes they are thrown away because they are not pretty enough, you can wrap whatever you want in anger and put Dr in front of you twitter account, it won't change a thing... Here is a video about it. https://vimeo.com/98441820
My husband is from Morocco. In Morocco all fruit gets sold, ugly or pretty.
Here’s the solution for not having enough staff to pick the f*****g fruit and veg: end subsidies to the diary and meat industry and give them instead to fruit and veg farmers. There you go, a boost in help for the global warming problem, and some relief to fruit farmers all in one easy swoop.
That's robbing Peter to pay Paul. I say get rid of all subsidies so everyone can have a level playing field.
Load More Replies...
So good point, but saying that less attractive food goes to stores where the "poor people shop" sounds like a statement from someone who's always had a lot of privilege. What stores is she talking about? Supermarkets?
She's talking about US only. I'm curious to know too.
Load More Replies...
I gave up after about ten of Taber's rants, sorry tweets. I might have made a few more if she had written them in decent English.
A relative of mine grows tomatoes. 3 tonnes of it goes to waste each year because it doesn't meet 'certain requirements' (ie, isn't round enough, is too round, isn't red enough, has a mark, doesn't look fresh enough even though it is, other BS reasons). And by waste I don't mean sell to go into salsa like this woman says, I mean WASTE. 3 tonnes can feed a lot of people. And this is just one farmer. The ironic part is he sells to Woolworths...(have an 'odd bunch'/ugly fruit thing going on).
Maybe it depends on the country you live in. They all have different regulations I'm sure.
Load More Replies... This thing was explained to meat school so for a long time I have known that ugly fruits and vegetables are usually fed to the animals (for example farms and zoos) or those are used to make many types of foods. Only the best looking plants are available from the shops.
I read your post as "explained at meat school" and thought, cool, like a food oriented program. I'd be interested in that!
Load More Replies... Anyone who has ever had a garden and/or fruit trees are well aware of "ugly" produce and that it tastes no different from "pretty" produce. It's a little more difficult to prepare due to its odd shape but that's the only difference.
I couldn't agree more. Furthermore, as someone who gardens and has fruit trees it really makes me wonder how they yeild such high quantities of the "pretty" stuff.
Load More Replies... With the "ugly fruit" in Australia...esp in Woolworths they have a "odd bunch" collection. Its where the carrots that aren't straight, the apples that are too small, the pears that are marked or a funny shape, the odd shaped sweet potatoes and the such. They are pre packed/set weight for the "poor people" I guess but for someone like me (who only has me to feed) who doesn't eat huge amounts its awesome with small foods
I think they would sell a lot more if they did this here too. Normally they don't separate anything here, so of course people will buy the good looking produce whenever they can, after all, it's the same price, so why should they get ugly stuff when they're paying full price? If there was a discount for the ugly produce, you bet people would be rushing to buy it.
Load More Replies... it's interesting but she could have done it without the conscending tone. She works in the industry so of course she has more knowledge about it, but not everyone does
Some of the "ugly" fruits and vegetables are really interesting though. Maybe the produce industry should add another step in which they get photographed before they get cooked into salsa.
That's actually a really smart idea. I guarantee you could make some niche Whole Foods $8 jar of salsa or soup if you show how 'friendly' your sources are.
Load More Replies... I can vouch for this after working produce at Whole Foods. Whenever produce was getting close to spoilage, we'd process it into something else. Avocados became Guacamole, tomatoes and onions became salsa, peppers/zucchini/onions became stir fry veggies and squashed were peeled and diced for easy use. We would also let deli know and they would come retrieve some of the fruit and veg for salads and hot bar use. Most gets used..some gets tossed. But tossed veg and fruit that was not moldy went to local farms to feed livestock or went to farmers to be turned into soil for planting other crops. If you went to the landfills..you would see the majority of vegetables that are tossed are lettuces and delicate leafy greens.
This really only applies to the US. And shops still throe away tons of fruit and veggies for tiny flaws long after this woman's job is over. She's basically accused the Guardian of lying.
This isn’t entirely true, certainly not in Oz where the supermarket duopoly means many producers are locked into contracts and they absolutely do end up pulping and trashing produce which doesn’t pass ludicrous appearance standards. Sometimes they can find secondary markets but a lot of it just gets ploughed.
Good points and obvious knowledge but yeah she should summarize.
It's a deformity called "Collar of Slips" which is usually the result of over-fertilization.
Load More Replies... I work at a grocery store and they let us take home "ugly" produce for free all the time. I think this is what EVERY grocery store should be required to do. Give the unappealing/expired food to employees and/or donate it. At my first job, which was a different grocery store chain, we threw out tons of food everyday, and it was honestly so depressing. Employees would be fired at stores like this if they were caught taking anything out of the garbage, and it's kind of messed up honestly.
I'm always amused by the pet food commercials that say they only use the purest, choicest pieces of meat for their cat food or dog food. What do you think your pet would eat in the wild? Using bits and scraps of meat, and byproducts, in pet food is a very good method of using the whole animal after slaughter.
I think the real problem is people throwing away food. Too many regulations preventing restaurants from donating food. We really buy too much, because we're too lazy to go to market every day or every other day and buy only what we need. Basically talking about proteins and produce here. I struggle with this since I have good intentions of eating all the produce, but feel bad every time I throw out the rotten lettuce or the hairy soft carrots...
I had no idea, and our supermarker is now selling these 'ugly' fruits and veggies. I bought them a couple of times because I thought I was doing a good thing, not adding more waste and also because there cheaper. But now I know that wasn't really the case. If I buy them now, it's just 'healthy' for my wallet.
This is rubbish when regarding the UK, lots of crop ends up being ploughed back into the fields, though not all is ugly, some are harvested crops ordered by the supermarkets and then the ordered are cancelled after the harvest has commenced.
Dr Sarah Taber's grammar, spelling and sentence structure is so appalling, I stopped reading after two tweets. Far out. She needs to learn to make her point in a calm and rational manner, then maybe she'll have more readers.
Really eye opening! Thanks a lot for all that information! I love posts like that!
it is not the waste generated in the supply chain that we should be worried about, most of it would be processed or go towards animal feed. I think we should be more worries about the food many of us waste on our plate. how many of us clean our plate of food at every meal? most of the leftovers wind up in the trash. i also would like to know how much of food and edible resources are wasted in the endless number of cooking shows
Thank you. I loved the entire rant. I had no idea exactly how produce is handled behind the scenes. Love learning new stuff. Great pic of the party animal at the end! That boy is ready for anything.
Looks as though Richard Nixon has been reincarnated as an aubergine!
I know it's in Europe, but here we waste because fruits and vegetables are calibrated. So yes, sometimes they are thrown away because they are not pretty enough, you can wrap whatever you want in anger and put Dr in front of you twitter account, it won't change a thing... Here is a video about it. https://vimeo.com/98441820
My husband is from Morocco. In Morocco all fruit gets sold, ugly or pretty.
Here’s the solution for not having enough staff to pick the f*****g fruit and veg: end subsidies to the diary and meat industry and give them instead to fruit and veg farmers. There you go, a boost in help for the global warming problem, and some relief to fruit farmers all in one easy swoop.
That's robbing Peter to pay Paul. I say get rid of all subsidies so everyone can have a level playing field.
Load More Replies... So good point, but saying that less attractive food goes to stores where the "poor people shop" sounds like a statement from someone who's always had a lot of privilege. What stores is she talking about? Supermarkets?
She's talking about US only. I'm curious to know too.
Load More Replies... I gave up after about ten of Taber's rants, sorry tweets. I might have made a few more if she had written them in decent English.
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