Reducing Food Waste: The Case for 'Ugly' Produce

Food is something people take for granted these days since it is see in stock every day and there is an abundance of produce. What is also see in the market are produce that are almost in perfect shape and have no marks in them which are called ‘premium’ produce. Which can lead some to think that produce comes out like this, but that is not the case. In reality produce can be imperfect by with a dent or some marking on it that make it look ‘ugly’. Because of imperfections that the produce might contain it is thrown away since it doesn’t meet ‘premium standards.’ One of the ways that we can end food waste in the U.S is that grocery stores should offer a discount for ‘ugly’ food.
Some never think of what happens to the food that is not used

There are also environmental consequences that can happen due to all of the food waste that rots in landfills. In the article “Going to waste” it gives examples of how food waste can hurt the environment and precious resources that people need. As seen ‘ugly’ produce is thrown away a lot since it is not ‘perfect’ to be in shelf life, this causes a lot of ‘ugly’ produce to be thrown away to landfills. Which cases problem like what is said in the article “Going to waste” “When food rots it creates Methane” the problem with Methane is that it’s a greenhouse gas. Which creates a problem since as it is known greenhouse gases are what causes global warming, in which the Earth becomes hotter since heat is trapped inside the earth because of greenhouse gases. The effect can be see happening to this day such as the north and south pole losing its glaziers and making sea level go up to other things. When ‘ugly’ produce is thrown away people are also practically wasting water. Water is used a lot to grow produce but if farms throw away lots of the produce since it is seen as ‘ugly’ then water is being wasted as well. It is a big problem since there are places that are in drought, such as California where there is a drought that have been happening. So not only does the U.S spend lots of money on food waste and cause many foods to be thrown away food

For this to work this idea to work it needs to convince the consumer that ‘ugly’ produce is just as good as ‘premium’ produce. In the article “Getting Ugly produce onto tables” and “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables” they both share and idea to sell ‘ugly’ produce at a discount. That way consumers are more likely to buy the ‘ugly’ produce since they see that the produce is cheaper than the more expensive ‘premiums’ ones. Some might say that might not work since even if it’s a discount many people might now want to buy the ‘ugly’ produce since they see it as being less notorious and taste bad. The web page of “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables” has a video on their page and in it they talk about how they got consumers to start buying the ‘ugly’ produce which can be used to convince consumers here in the U.S as well. What they do is that they start distributed soups and juices that used the ‘ugly’ produce that have. That way they were able to show the consumer that the ‘ugly’ produce is just as good as the ‘premium’ produce but cheaper. Showing if supermarkets and grocery stores started to do this then it would get consumers to start buying ‘ugly’