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Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

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Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#131

Post by Cthulhu_ »

patmcc wrote: post #54
loosetypes wrote: post #32

It's good that the less shopper-favorable produce is put to use, but I'm always curious about the somewhat analogous-to-ugly-fruits case with milk: Looking at the dairy fridge and choosing solely by expiration date. Naturally, I choose the latest to expire to maximize my options within the consumption time-frame. And I think everyone does? But do you actually care about food waste if every time you make that decision…

>>Naturally, I choose the latest to expire to maximize my options within the consumption time-frame. And I think everyone does? I certainly used to, but now that I have a toddler that consumes an unreal amount of milk, I just buy whatever's at the front. It'll be gone in 4 days regardless.

That's just it; everyone should buy according to what they use. I'm sure there's a lot of people that only buy milk by the gallon, accepting that they have to toss it by the end of the week regardless of how much has been used.

This is of course also because big quantities are cheaper; when buying milk or most produce really, the cost isn't in the product itself, it's in the packaging, handling, shipping and refrigerating.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#132

Post by Cthulhu_ »

suvelx wrote: post #72
loosetypes wrote: post #32

It's good that the less shopper-favorable produce is put to use, but I'm always curious about the somewhat analogous-to-ugly-fruits case with milk: Looking at the dairy fridge and choosing solely by expiration date. Naturally, I choose the latest to expire to maximize my options within the consumption time-frame. And I think everyone does? But do you actually care about food waste if every time you make that decision…

This is just bad produce management from the shops. Longer-Expiry products at the back, newer at the front. But I know at my local supermarkets nobody gives a shit, Frequently I'll buy the same product twice in a row, and the item on the second day expires before the one on the first. All their staff just chucks the new shit at the front. The milk is even worse, as they just combine the half-empty early-date trollies…

Sounds like poor management TBH; they can know exactly how much milk they need to stock to minimize waste.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#133

Post by zeroname »

selimthegrim wrote: post #124
zeroname wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many times the farmers are given such a low ball offer, that is basically expecting them to sell for loss. The farmer does the obvious. Takes their produce, dump in a lake near by as garbage, because it often doesn't economic make sense to take it back. That doesn't make any economic sense either. How is "selling at a loss" (i.e. taking in less money than it costs to produce) worse than dumping the produce (taking…

They don’t want a “kick me” sign on their back?

I guess "spite" might be an underappreciated factor of real-world (un-)economics.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#134

Post by neRok »

zeroname wrote: post #119
bjowen wrote: post #118

Welp that’s a rant. Here’s an example where integrated supply chains and arbitrary supermarket standards cause eye-watering levels of waste: https://vimeo.com/223234033

Actually it isn't. It's the same kind of poor research that the rant is about. Those are cosmetic specifications for supermarket stock, nowhere does it say what happens with the produce that doesn't meet them. It's simply insinuated that it goes to waste, but that isn't true. The supermarkets know very well what kind of produce doesn't sell, so these specs actually prevent waste , because unsold produce that is about…

If you had watched the 2min video, you would have seen the bananas being dumped in piles - a banana mountain. Here is an article on the same video: https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/war-on-waste...

Other people and the original source mention food rotting because it cannot be picked before it spoils, which is probably a problem. But in the case of these bananas, they have been picked and made it all the way to a sorting facility, and could be sent to somewhere for consumption. These bananas may be worse than the ones that rot in the field, because they are responsible for additional energy and labour expenditure.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#135

Post by lizzhale99 »

Naturally, I choose the latest to expire to maximize my options within the consumption time-frame. And I think everyone does?

I have recently started to deliberately mix ages when I see a variation, knowing that at least some of it will be consumed pretty soon and order will be assured by the way I arrange out fridge contents. It feels unjustifiably good.

Thanks https://mytellthebell.com

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#137

Post by klmr »

> Know what happens to most of the produce that's edible, has enough shape to survive in transit, but looks funny?

> IT GOES TO THE GROCERY STORES THAT POOR PEOPLE SHOP AT

So I shop a lot at “grocery stores that poor people shop at” (in Europe, for what it’s worth; maybe the US is different). And the produce sold there is, for the most part, very different from the “ugly” fruit and veg that sustainability hipsters are talking about.

Here’s what produce is sold at “poor people stores”: plasticky, perfect-looking, and utterly tasteless. Yes, there’s a lot of waste because a lot of it gets squashed and mouldy. But nobody is talking about selling that stuff because it’s genuinely bad.

Some greengrocers do sell cheap “ugly” produce but the vast majority that lands in discount super markets isn’t ugly, it’s just incredibly bad quality.

I don’t know what this means for her argument vs the food hipsters. But I find her condescension towards people who don’t know how poor people shop, coupled with apparent misinformation, extremely alienating.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#138

Post by aboutruby »

klmr wrote: post #137

> Know what happens to most of the produce that's edible, has enough shape to survive in transit, but looks funny? > IT GOES TO THE GROCERY STORES THAT POOR PEOPLE SHOP AT So I shop a lot at “grocery stores that poor people shop at” (in Europe, for what it’s worth; maybe the US is different). And the produce sold there is, for the most part, very different from the “ugly” fruit and veg that sustainability hipsters ar…

Also oversized to compensate for the low price-per-kilogram

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#139

Post by philliphaydon »

ryanlol wrote: post #91
lucideer wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The offputting tone wouldn't be quite as objectionable (imo) if the argument wasn't so FUCKing wrong. > Most "ugly" produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam, ice cream, etc. You think that stuff gets made from the pretty fruit & veggies?! jeebus, think about it for a minute I've thought about it, and yes, that stuff gets made from the pretty fruit & veggies. Sure, a LOT of it gets made from the rejected "ug…

>This sentence from the same person who just used the phrase "classist as fuck"!? There's nothing classist about acknowledging the fact that poor and rich people often shop in different stores.

Wrong. Rich people don’t shop. They aren’t even aware of how their fridge gets stocked. They got too many helpers! Those helpers shop at the same stores us regular folks shop at!

(But seriously, is there really such stories that exist as poor/rich or are these just the same stores in different areas?)

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