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Sustainability March 8, 2019
Let's all take off our judge-y goggles and take a closer look at what's really going on.
Admit it. You’ve knocked on watermelons and squeezed tomatoes, haven’t you? If an apple has a bruise, would you bring it home? Would you even bother peeling a banana dotted with brown marks? If not, you’re not alone.
From a young age, many of us are taught to avoid foods that have “gone bad,” associating the nasty side effects of food poisoning with less than attractive foods. Somewhere along the way, we began to affiliate nourishment with appearance.
Have you ever wondered what happens to the ‘ugly food’ we judge too harshly? The tomatoes tossed back in the pile?
We are here to give you the nitty-gritty, and it’s not pretty.
According to Ugly Produce is Beautiful, “Up to 40 percent of produce in the United States goes to waste due to imperfections,” which is confirmed by 2009 comparisons of U.S. food production and consumption.
That’s pretty terrifying. Especially when you take into consideration what these imperfections really are. In many cases, wasted produce bears only minor bruises or slight deviations in shape from the “standard” fruit or vegetable.
This excessive waste is not only happening in homes or as a result of personal shopping choices. According to FAO, “between 20 and 40 percent” of food produced by farmers is sent to trash purely because it didn’t meet the standards of food retailers. This means there is a great deal of food that we are not even given the option to reject.
Arguably, the regulations in place are intended to keep harmful fruits and vegetables off the plates of happy families. However, when you take a closer look at how the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) lists its standards, it’s clear that some food vanity factors into the equation. Firstly, the grade one rating is “extra fancy.” Pardon the expression, but that is bananas. In order for produce to reach the top notch, it has to be extra fancy? Have we become so bougie as a society that even our apples have to be extra?
In addition to the silly names, the regulations themselves tend to go overboard. For instance: apples. According to the USDA, all apples, other than Fuji for whatever reason, fail to qualify for either the first or second grade if they possess something called “invisible water core.” You might recognize water core as those vaguely translucent spots inside or on the skin of an apple.
While it may cause issues with preservation, water core is not a dangerous or unusual phenomenon. Dr. Randy Beaudry of Michigan State University states that it results from the build-up of a liquid “rich in sorbitol,” which is a key carbohydrate of apples. Dr. Beaudry notes that this feature can make the fruit “more susceptible to degradation” after it has been picked. However, he also acknowledges that water core’s symptoms can disappear “partially or even completely with storage.”
On top of this, he never suggests throwing apples away. He recommends that “fruit with anything more than mild water core systems should be marketed as soon as is practicable.” In other words: get it on the shelves, but don’t toss them yet.
Dr. Beaudry classifies water core as a “physiological disorder.” This may sound like a terrifying illness, but we can still eat water core apples! In Japan, they are even seen as “indicator[s] of full ripeness and… called ‘honeyed apples,’” since they tend to be sweeter than others.
Thus, grocery stores that reject apples with water core are both wasting food and missing out. This fruit is not only safe; it’s extra delicious.
Upon reading about the massive amounts of wasted food, one may struggle to see the real issue at hand. Even if we waste food, surely it just goes back into the ground and grows a new tree? Circle of life, right, Simba?
Unfortunately, Simba’s wrong this time. Some businesses don’t compost due to lack of motivation. USC environmental studies graduate Kaitlin Mogentale “realized that the majority… of juiceries across Los Angeles… were just throwing away the leftover pulp.” After this realization, she created the company Pulp Pantry to recycle these discarded ingredients into nutritious snacks.
Farmers can also face difficulty with composting their food waste. Adrian Higgins, gardening columnist from The Washington Post, describes the challenges he faced while starting his own compost pile. High-quality compost fertilizer requires “land, equipment, labor and a large, steady stream of raw materials.” A person can spend a lot of time and effort as they create a “bin of just the right proportions… achieve the prescribed ratio of 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen… [and] turn… the pile as needed.”
If the farmer doesn’t want to put in that much time and care, they can simply dump all their compost in a bin, making a “cold pile.” Unfortunately, this pile “decays at its own pace and comes with a couple of disadvantages.” For instance, it takes longer for this compost to become fertilizer. The cold pile can also grow weeds, infecting the yard rather than supporting it.
For these reasons, rejected food may become waste instead of compost, ending the circle of life. Feeding America states that 16% of landfill food comes from farms.
The word landfill itself evokes a bad taste in the mouth—and for good reason. According to Groundwork, as produce gets comfortable in landfills, it releases “potent methane.”
Methane is a greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming. The discarding of “ugly food,” therefore, is not just wasteful; it’s damaging, wounding Mother Earth.
The discrimination against produce is also affecting our world on a humane level. Groundwork lists the number of people across the globe who suffer from hunger as 870 million, which is confirmed by FAO. They put that further in perspective, noting that 870 million is 1/8 of the world’s population.
When Groundwork compares this to the amount of food wasted (which FAO states as 1.9 billion tonnes), they are able to conclude, “We waste enough produce to feed the world’s hungry more than twice over annually.” This is devastating. It means we have the option to alleviate world hunger, and we are burning that option in landfills.
Knowledge is power. Ugly Produce is Beautiful is an educational campaign with a website full of information. They alert the public by spreading news on unnecessary produce discrimination.
After you read this article, talk about this topic with a friend, a loved one or even a cashier at your local grocery store. Word of mouth is a powerful force.
There are several other organizations working to decrease food waste. Feeding America works with Starbucks to ensure unsold food doesn’t end up in the trash. Targeting the restaurant business in order to reduce food waste is incredibly important. We can all see the hideous amount of leftovers tossed in dumpsters after closing time.
Doug Ranch, the former president of Trader Joe’s, is working on his own solution. Apparently, he plans to open his own grocery store dedicated to selling foods beyond their sell-by date.
We tend to view expiration dates as death sentences, but according to Ranch, this is simply not the case. Before you throw out that yogurt that should’ve gone “bad” two days ago, offer it some love instead, and let it live on.
Perhaps the most popular ugly food cheerleader is Imperfect Produce. This awesome company will sell you ugly—but perfectly nutritious—produce. Better yet, they’ll do so for 30 to 50 percent less than the big time grocery stores. A subscription-based organization, Imperfect Produce sends its members a box of customizable food items each week. So when you sign up, you save some money, reduce your carbon footprint and receive all the fruits and veggies your heart desires. That is a win-win-win situation!
Women everywhere face the demoralizing beauty standards set up by society through its images in magazines and on T.V. We know what it’s like to experience judgment solely on looks. We are all too familiar with the sting of rejection based on small, uncontrollable physical factors.
As we work to end body-shaming throughout the world for women, men and children, let’s include produce in the battle. Ugly food has felt unruly discrimination for far too long. Stand with them in solidarity and put an end to unnecessary shame. Let’s celebrate all bodies, including those of carrots and potatoes, and reduce world hunger along the way.
