Ugly Produce

Ugly Produce Has Never Looked So Good

The produce section of your local grocery store offers rows and rows of flawless fruits and vegetables – round apples, pointed carrots, curved bell peppers – each unblemished and just the right color. But your grocery store, much like a magazine filled with images photoshopped to a perceived standard of perfection, presents a distorted reality.

It's impossible for all produce to meet the beauty standards set forth, standards unrelated to whether the fruit or vegetable is edible and delicious. The USDA's grades and standards for produce define acceptable diameters, lengths, and colors, and any product outside these parameters is deemed undesirable and even unsellable by grocery stores.1

Produce Waste in the United States

Even though cosmetically challenged fruits and vegetables are equal to their more aesthetically pleasing counterparts in taste and nutrition, you aren’t likely to see ugly produce lined up in grocery stores.

Approximately 30 to 40 percent of the food supply in the United States is wasted.2 Moreover, roughly 20 percent of produce is thrown away in the United States for purely cosmetic reasons.3

Supermarket Produce

Growing Out the Status Quo

Shunning edible produce because of its physical shortcomings might be the standard for now, but ugly produce pioneers are launching businesses and organizations to rescue these misshapen fruits and vegetables from their untimely demise. Many involved in the movement see it as a way to end food waste and feed individuals or families that might not otherwise be able to afford healthy food.

In 2016, Hungry Harvest, a direct-delivery service, donated 100,000 pounds of rescued food. When CEO and Co-Founder Evan Lutz appeared on ABC's Shark Tank, he secured a $100,000 investment and generated new buzz about the ugly produce movement. As of 2022, the company delivers produce to Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and some east coast cities. Hungry Harvest plans to add other cities to its delivery area, indicating the growing demand for ugly produce.


Gleaning: harvesting extra produce from farms to prevent food waste. Many ugly produce companies glean fruits and vegetables deemed unacceptable to sell in grocery stores.

Misfits Market – a gleaning produce delivery service founded by Abhi Ramesh in 2018 – delivers everywhere in the United States except Alaska and Hawaii. In 2020, Misfits Market distributed 200 free boxes of rescued produce to people affected by the tornado that tore through Nashville and its surrounding Middle Tennessee counties, even letting subscribers donate their order to people who were most effected.5

The Ugly Dinner Series

In 2021, Kanbe's Markets, a Kansas City non-profit organization owned by Max Kaniger, redirected 218,000 pounds of produce that might have otherwise gone to waste to those in need. Kanbe's Markets has partnered with local chefs for a six part event called the Ugly Dinner Series that equips chefs with misshapen and deformed fruits and vegetables with which to create four course meals while raising awareness on food waste and how to reduce it.4

Demanding More from Supermarkets

Food activist Jordan Figueiredo, who created EndFoodWaste.org, launched the Ugly Fruit and Veg Campaign to change the perception of ugly produce using social media accounts to celebrate the amusing shapes produce can take. In addition to this whimsical approach to activism, Figueiredo started a petition that urged Whole Foods and Wal-Mart to sell ugly produce at a discount, but despite this urging and the early success of direct-delivery services, many American supermarkets have discontinued selling ugly produce as of 2019.6

Only time will tell whether ugly produce will find its way into the mainstream fruit and vegetable market, but the ever growing political and social concern about ending food waste means the movement isn’t likely to disappear. Several imperfect fruit and vegetable delivery services similar to Hungry Harvest have popped up in recent years, letting customers get their own two-legged carrot or curvy zucchini.

References

  1. Grades and Standards. USDA. June 2022.
  2. Food Waste FAQs. U.S. Department of Agriculture. June 2022.
  3. Why We Waste: Ugly Food, Expiration Dates, and More. Food Waste Feast. June 2022.
  4. KC Chefs Create Beauty from ‘Ugly’ Produce in Kanbe’s Markets’ Ugly Dinner Series. In Kansas City. June 2022.
  5. Free Misfits Boxes for Tennessee Tornado Relief. Misfits Market. June 2022.
  6. Walmart and Whole Food end ‘ugly produce’ tests, suggesting trend may have limits. The Globe and Mail. June 2022.