The United States spends over $218 billion a year, growing, processing and transporting food that has never been eaten. That adds up to 52.4 million tons of food sent to landfill annually. In addition to that, another 10.1 million tons is estimated to be discarded or left unharvested on farms and in packinghouses, totaling roughly to 63 million tons of annual waste.
The USDA estimates that a third of all produces from farmers goes uneaten, summing up to about $161.6 billion in waste. An abundant amount of this waste has to do with logistical issues, but some food is also wasted due to cosmetic reasons. “Ugly” produce, also called imperfect produce is often too unattractive to sell and gets tossed away, whether it is because an apple is bruised or because a carrot is too “strangely” shaped to be sold.
Wasted food is not just a social or humanitarian concern, it is also an environmental one. When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. And if food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane - a greenhouse gas, even more potent than carbon dioxide. About 11% of all the greenhouse gas emissions that come from the food system could be reduced if we stopped wasting food.
Most of these "ugly" produces have great quality and taste delicious. They have been thrown out mostly because of the strict cosmetic standards from large grocers who mandate the size,
shape and color of the fruits and vegetables. Although we are saving these fruits and vegetables from being thrown away and wasted, we are also helping the farmers and producers at the same time. These items could be transformed into other food products such as jams, juices, snacks, cookies and powders etc. through the modification of size, shape and color. Let us work together to make the imperfect foods perfectly eatable.
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