2023-10-07 10:10:34
A third of global food production is lost or wasted. In Switzerland, this represents on average 330 kg per inhabitant per year. Among the causes is the elimination of fruits and vegetables that are out of size or have visual defects. To remedy this, several initiatives have emerged, including baskets of “ugly” fruit and vegetables.
The bad weather last spring did not spare the fruits of a producer active in organic farming. In a crate, small apples of the Renora variety await their fate. Although perfectly fit for consumption, they are damaged and therefore unsaleable as is in supermarkets.
This time, the cargo is saved: the stock is sold to a reseller specializing in non-standard products. The merchandise will therefore avoid the trash.
>> Read also: A banquet made from 450 kg of unsold goods open to everyone in Lausanne
A few tonnes saved per year
“On our small scale, we try to save a few tonnes of products per year”, testifies in Couleurs Locales the buyer of this lot, the manager of the UglyFruits.ch platform (“ugly fruits” in French) Nicolas Tanner. It specializes in home delivery of baskets of fruits and vegetables that go beyond the standards. Normally, a farmer is refused 30% of his uncalibrated production, he says on his website. These “ugly” products also represent 30% of its assortment in boxes, with a stated objective of promoting ugly.
“Originally, these products would perhaps end up in waste. And waste is found at the level of production, distribution, sale and all the way to the consumer. It’s 10% per link”, explains Nicolas Money, sales manager at TerraViva, an organization which markets the products of more than 80 organic fruit and vegetable producers throughout Switzerland.
“The main thing is that it’s fresh”
In Nicolas Tanner’s assortment, the naughty rubs shoulders with the extraordinary. “Typically, this pear is ugly, this carrot is ugly…” he explains, showing brown-stained produce. “Afterwards, in the other criteria, we also have potatoes which are of XXL caliber, large potatoes which will not necessarily fit in the supermarkets. And these zucchini are also XXL”.
This type of fruit and vegetables has its fans. Dozens of customers receive deliveries every day, particularly to their homes. “Today I received eggplants, grape tomatoes, radishes, cauliflower… The main thing is that it’s fresh, good. And above all, it lasts for more than a week “, rejoices a mother who placed an order in Corcelles (NE). The appearance of fruits and vegetables poses no problem for him.
For these customers, appearance doesn’t matter, the main thing is elsewhere. These fruits and vegetables may be ugly, but they’re just as healthy and tasty as their counterparts.
>> Also listen to the “Parlons Cash” sequence from La Matinale de la RTS addressing the issue of food waste last Monday: Parlons Cash (video) – The scourge of food waste / La Matinale / 3 min. / Monday at 07:00
TV subject: Claude Olivier Volluz
Adaptation web: Vincent Cherpillod
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