Picture this. A farmer picks a tomato from their vine—it looks a little different. It is bulbous—almost as if two tomatoes have morphed into one —and it has some discolored bits, giving it a blotchy appearance. You might think this tomato would be valued for the diversity it brings to the table (literally). Unfortunately, though, it will unlikely live its glory days on the brightly-lit grocery store produce stand and instead get tossed aside for the farmer to decide how to deal with it and any other misfits.

This is just one very small-scale example of the lived reality of imperfect-looking fruits and veggies across the U.S. Food retailers have cosmetic standards for the produce they stock, and what does not make the grade gets wasted. And, as with many aesthetic standards within our culture, these cosmetic standards are often unrealistic considering that the appearance of produce, like people, can be incredibly varied. So, how does it make sense to let a nutritious and perfectly edible piece of produce go to waste just because it looks a little funny? Those “ugly” fruits and veggies may never get the chance to fill bellies and will likely fill landfills. This is the ugly cherry on top, so to speak, of our exorbitant food waste problem.

According to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 40 percent of the food in the U.S. goes uneaten. Buzby et al. (2014) report that America throws out more than 400 pounds of food per person, per year. And, as if letting perfectly good food go to the wayside isn’t already disgraceful enough, wasted food also means wasted money and environmental resources. Picture $408 billion dollars getting thrown in the trash. ReFED estimates that that lottery-winning trashcan represents the monetary value of the food that went unsold or uneaten in the U.S. in 2019. And don’t forget those precious natural resources. Wasting funny-looking produce is perpetuating unnecessary spending of limited environmental resources. The uneaten food we place in landfills equates to wasting 25% of all freshwater and generates about 25% of the U.S.’s methane emissions, a powerful contributor to climate change. Lastly, but very importantly, a pile of wasted food illustrates wasted opportunities to feed people. According to the USDA, 10.5% (13.7 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some point during 2019. FYI, in this context, food insecure was defined as uncertain of having, or unable to get enough food for the family because there wasn’t enough money or resources for food. The fact that people are going hungry even though we produce enough food to feed everyone makes it especially frustrating that quality fruits and veggies are being wasted due to our fixation on the way they look.

It’s obvious that wasted food brings out a whole lot of negativity—economically, environmentally, and socially. But ugly produce can help.

Despite their lumps and bumps, battle wound scars, funky shapes, and discolorations, ugly produce is just as nutritious and delicious as their perfect Barbie-doll-standard counterparts. Even if a vegetable or piece of fruit comes runner up in the produce beauty contest, it still can have first-place value. It deserves a spot on the grocery store produce stand, too! Many supermarkets across the pond in Europe (like British supermarket Asda and French retailer Intermarche) have recognized this and instated successful ugly produce campaigns to encourage consumers to buy the wonky produce, thus saving it from the bin. These ugly fruits and veggies are sold at a discounted price to make them attractive alternatives to their regular-priced “pretty” counterparts, all while reducing waste. Some food retailers in the U.S. have watched the ugly produce movement gain momentum and have started introducing ugly produce into their markets. However, there is no rule mandating that ugly produce has a place in the store, leading farmers to continually lose out on the cosmetically-failed produce they can’t sell to retailers—and the waste keeps piling.

Food retailers often claim that consumer demand for perfect-looking produce is what drives their strict cosmetic standards. Perhaps it’s true that we hold a tomato to unfair surface-level judgement, but now that you see how much waste happens, in part because of these judgement calls, wouldn’t you give the ugly stuff a chance? With so much movement around imperfect produce campaigns and consumer education, it’s time we give ugly produce the positive attention it deserves.

While policy determines whether the imperfect produce makes it to the shelves, you, the consumer, can help give the imperfects a purpose. Pick the less-than-perfect produce that does make it to the grocery store stand (which wold likely go to waste from not being picked because of their looks) or sign up for an imperfect produce subscription service that procure imperfect produce with sustainability in mind.

The easiest thing you can do is help spread the word: imperfect produce has perfect nutrients.

Let’s make sure this beautiful-on-the-inside produce gets the support it needs to make it past the beauty contest chopping block and to your non-judgmental kitchen cutting board. Ugly produce has built-in diversity and quirks—use their personalities to make meal prep more fun. For example, the funny-looking carrot in this (shareable ;)) Instagram post makes me think of a seahorse who’s super excited to get off the land and into a soup. Imagination, kiddies. At the end of the day, purchasing imperfect produce and spreading the message that they’re perfectly edible and nutritious helps ensure these knobby, colorful, beauty-mark-ridden fruits and veggies are feeding people, not landfills.

Resources

Buzby, J. C., Wells, H. F., & Hyman, J. (2014, February). The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service Economic Information Bulletin No. EIB-121 www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/eib121/43680_eib121.pdf   

Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data (ReFED), A Roadmap to Reduce US Food Waste by 20 Percent. (2016). www.refed.com