11–20 of 45 posts
"The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry" I mean, you can make a case for damaging the environment, but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. We clearly don't have a shortage problem.
What is the reason?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A complicating factor is that produce optimized for one track (e.g. fresh apples) might perform more poorly if repurposed What optimisations do you have in mind?
An apple bred to stay crisp for a long time on the shelf and give a nice crunch when you eat it might not make the best applesauce.
"The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry" I mean, you can make a case for damaging the environment, but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. We clearly don't have a shortage problem.
I agree there's not a shortage problem. We are who definitely need to change our mentality. As an individual customers, not wanting only the pretty and shiny ones. As a company, by not wanting only max profit disregarding environment harm. Considering that this may never happen, it would be good if there would be no logistic issues/transportation costs (maybe subsidized by the government?) in order to ship this perfe…
Given the right conditions, it's not a problem for apples to stay fresh for a long time. We usually keep apples, grown in our own garden without any "chemicals", through the winter in a cellar or attic. Not sure if it work for all kinds of apples though.
"The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry" I mean, you can make a case for damaging the environment, but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. We clearly don't have a shortage problem.
>but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. What is the reason?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
An apple bred to stay crisp for a long time on the shelf and give a nice crunch when you eat it might not make the best applesauce.
Oh. I'm surprised that the difference is considered to be that great.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
An apple bred to stay crisp for a long time on the shelf and give a nice crunch when you eat it might not make the best applesauce.
Oh. I'm surprised that the difference is considered to be that great.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. What is the reason?
From what I understand it's more of a delivery or logistics problem and its variations. Sometimes it's not worth it to certain people to deliver the food and in some cases someone takes the food before it arrives.
"The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry" I mean, you can make a case for damaging the environment, but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. We clearly don't have a shortage problem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree there's not a shortage problem. We are who definitely need to change our mentality. As an individual customers, not wanting only the pretty and shiny ones. As a company, by not wanting only max profit disregarding environment harm. Considering that this may never happen, it would be good if there would be no logistic issues/transportation costs (maybe subsidized by the government?) in order to ship this perfe…
" Six months were passed and it was still looking pretty and shiny." Given the right conditions, it's not a problem for apples to stay fresh for a long time. We usually keep apples, grown in our own garden without any "chemicals", through the winter in a cellar or attic. Not sure if it work for all kinds of apples though.
Actually tried to look up the average 'expiry' date for an apple and could only find industrial storage dates with what 'experts' call MAP storage [1].
[1] http://shelflifeadvice.com/content/how-long-will-apples-last...
"The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry" I mean, you can make a case for damaging the environment, but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. We clearly don't have a shortage problem.
I agree there's not a shortage problem. We are who definitely need to change our mentality. As an individual customers, not wanting only the pretty and shiny ones. As a company, by not wanting only max profit disregarding environment harm. Considering that this may never happen, it would be good if there would be no logistic issues/transportation costs (maybe subsidized by the government?) in order to ship this perfe…
Because these places put such a high demand on perfect produce, they can charge more for that produce, and Americans find it harder and harder to afford eating their fruits and veg because it's too expensive to have food that rots when you're working 10 hour days vs. something in a can that is immortal. It can be quite difficult justifying the price tag on that bag of apples when you're not sure you can get through the whole bag, and two individual apples will end up costing you just as much as the bag because they carry the bullshit "organic" label. (And those are usually the two options you get - no non-organic freestanding take-as-many-as-you-think-you-can-eat apples by the pound for you; same goes for potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.) Lose-lose for the consumer.
I've been told again and again that there's some evidence us consumers have to be looked out for and have perfect, pristine produce, and yet I happily buy from a farmer's market the most knobbly carrots and potatoes and see many of my neighbors doing the same out here in Mountain View. They're often even more flavorful than the supermarket alternative, and since they're from nearer by (and didn't go through the industrial food transportation and refrigeration system where they're battered and shocked), they often don't spoil as quickly either.
Maybe the real problem is that Big Box Retailers have overconsolidated markets so much that there's no venue to sell this "less-than-perfect" produce to people.