50m tons of ‘ugly’ fruit & veg wasted
STUDY SHOWS SHOPPERS ARE TOO PICKY Produce binned despite being safe to eat
BY GRAINNE CUFFE MORE than a third of fruit and vegetables are binned because they are considered too ugly, it’s been revealed.
Scots researchers found 50million tons of fresh produce grown in Europe are thrown away every year before they even reach supermarket shelves.
In the UK, the figure is about 4.5million tons.
The fruit and veg are binned mostly because they are the wrong shape or size.
The Edinburgh University study said: “Our estimates suggest more than a third of total farm production is lost for aesthetic reasons.”
Professor David Reay, of the university’s School of GeoSciences, said: “The scale of food that is wasted when it is perfectly safe to eat is shocking at a time when a 10th of the world’s population is perpetually underfed.”
The researchers found that strict government regulations, supermarkets’ high standards and consumers’ expectations of how fruit and vegetables should look were to blame for major wastage.
The study says buyers suffer from the “beauty mystique” in that they think fruit and veg that looks good is somehow healthier.
Reay added: “Food loss and waste is one of the great scourges of our time.
“In excess of 10 per cent of the global population is chronically hungry, yet we lose or waste about a third of all food meant for human consumption at some point in the food supply chain.”
The climate change impact of growing the wasted food – some of which may be ploughed back into fields, used in animal feed or otherwise reused – is equivalent to carbon emissions from almost 400,000 cars.
The researchers say a greater use of misshapen produce, for example using them in chopped, processed or pickled goods, or selling them at a discount to charities, could cut down on avoidable waste.
Stephen Porter, also of the School of GeoSciences, said: “Encouraging people to be less picky about how their fruit and vegetables look could go a long way to cutting waste, reducing the impact of food production on the climate and easing the food supply chain.”