Comments on: What’s wrong with this picture?

By: Our shocking, food wasting habits

Our shocking, food wasting habits — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:29:00 +0000

[...] I learned about this first hand during a visit with a group of journalists this past spring to the Holland Marsh, a region of dark, fertile soil just north of Toronto where farmers grow great-tasting Ontario produce. Taste alone doesn’t matter, we heard that day. Fruits and vegetables with even minor imperfections – like onions with small marks or without skin, for example – are rejected by retailers and farmers end up being forced to compost them. [...]

By: DragonKat747

DragonKat747 — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:41:00 +0000

Such a shame — I’d think restaurants would want this. It can be served with the diner never knowing it had a mark or imperfect skin. School lunch programs could capitalize on this “rejected” produce by buying it at a lower cost.

I’ve noticed even at my local farmers market, marred produce is cheaper. There’s a basket of “loose asparagus” made up of ripe, delicious stalks that are only exiled because buyers prefer the identically shaped stalked, equal thicknesses and lengths. Apples with spots are in a bin, “ugly” tomatoes are cheaper.

I’m now on a mission to buy the ugliest produce I can find – I might do a post of photos of ugly produce.

By: Lilian

Lilian — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:38:00 +0000

Hi Jackie – we asked that question too, during the tour, and heard the food banks don’t want them(many can’t handle food donations in this form and many people don’t know how to cook), and nobody else seems to either. You’re right, it is a real waste. Thanks for reading!

By: Jackie Dishner

Jackie Dishner — Sat, 15 May 2010 14:35:06 +0000

I get that consumers have their demands, but such a waste! Does the article address other ways the food can be used besides composting? Not that composting is bad. But that’s a lot of onions. Going to read that article…