The Ugly Fruit Movement and the Produce Economy: What They Mean to the Charitable Food Network
The Ugly Fruit Movement is here to stay as people become more concerned about food waste and its impact on the environment. That means we are seeing decreased amounts of fresh produce that would have otherwise reached our member agency network.
Historically, food banks were the grateful beneficiaries of fresh food that was perfect in quality but perhaps not in appearance. This food was then donated to us from grocers or we would purchase 2nd or 3rd grade produce at a significantly reduced rate, essentially covering the cost to pick and transport this product that wouldn’t be sold otherwise. There is now an economy for this food to be sold for profit, which means less and lower quality coming to food banks and at higher cost.
Read this blog for an interesting perspective on this.