Supermarket sells “ugly” produce at a discount

Ugly-produce

[image credit: CTV News]

Much produce goes in the garbage because it isn't "perfect"

An estimated 300 million tons of produce a year are thrown out, despite food guidelines that suggest individuals should be consuming at least five fruits and veggies daily.
Sometimes the visually unappealing produce is tossed by the growers themselves, despite being just as edible and healthy-to-eat as their smooth and shiny produce brethren.

Solution: Sell imperfect produce at a discount

To combat food waste, French supermarket chain Intermarche bought from their growers the products that are typically disposed of, cleared entire aisles in store to make room for them, and marketed the less-than-desirable product with special signage and labels.

As the ultimate incentive, Intermarche also sells the imperfect fruits and veggies at a 30 per cent discount. Packaged dishes made from the produce, including orange juice and carrot soup, are distributed in-store.

Intermarche says that during the first two days of the campaign, each of their stores sold on average 1.2 tons of the malformed fruits and veggies. In addition, stores saw a 24-per-cent overall traffic increase at their stores.

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Category: Hunger

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Article by: Dave

Dave Cannon is a Seattle-based entrepreneur and consultant to nonprofits and small businesses. He loves Thai food and takes terrible photographs. You can follow him on Linkedin.
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