Central California fruits and vegetables are found in grocery stores across the nation. But what happens to produce that doesn’t make it to the market? In this story Valley Public Radio’s Ezra David Romero reports on how the ugly food that doesn’t meet beauty standards soon could be delivered to your doorstep.
Ron Clark is on the hunt for what he calls ugly produce.
“It may be too large, too small, slightly off color; it could have a little bit of scaring caused by perhaps rain, hail, wind," Clark says. "It’s just as good as what you are paying twice for at the store.”
Like people, fruits and vegetables grow in all shapes and sizes, but because of food beauty standards over 6 billion pounds of produce is wasted on farms every year. Clark is with the Oakland based startup Imperfect with the goal to bring unsightly, but tasty produce into American homes. The group defines food waste as food that’s grown or raised for human consumption but used for other purposes.
Clark, who in a past life secured goods for food banks, is scouring California to make deals with farmers to purchase the produce that growers have to throw away because of cosmetic imperfections.
"I say all my children are beautiful, we grow them all and they are beautiful. But if you get a hail mark or things like that cosmetically we've been trained when we go to the supermarket they're all on the shelf and we pick through them till we find the good ones." - Chris Tantau
Peter Mesias farms just outside Orosi in Tulare County. Right now he’s harvesting zucchini, cucumbers and yellow squash. A hail storm a few weeks back nicked the skin of his fleshy vegetables so bad that lots of his produce is unsellable for top dollar prices. We’re standing in front of conveyor dropping off funny looking zucchini into a growing pile.
“These here it’s obvious hail damage," says Mesias as he picks up a zucchini full of nickel sized scars. "This was probably just maybe an inch big at the time. Just a little scratch and obviously it grows and that’s the damage you end up having.”
"Imperfect is all about changing that paradigm. We want the American consumer to sort of relearn their habits that have been picked up over the years through marketing of picking up the most beautiful produce and realizing in nature a lot of it doesn't grow that way." - Ron Clark
Luckily, peddlers like Clark can purchase his scarred veggies for a fraction of the price and repurpose them for farmers markets, fruit stands or other uses. Clark wants the disfigured vegetables for Imperfect’s future home delivery food box service that launches in August. So he made a deal with Mesias to start getting fruit from him weekly come late summer.
“Terrific, farmer’s handshake," Clark says.
This is how the food box program could work. Trucks from the Bay area will daily pick up the bruised produce at packing sheds throughout California. After simple sorting the Imperfect team will divvy the fruit and veggies into boxes. Meanwhile people sign up for a subscription and pay $12 for a food box online or over the phone. The boxes will then be hand delivered to their doorsteps.
Imperfect hopes to become a pioneer in breaking down food barriers.
"I think more and more and people are interested in solving the food waste crisis, but I think our method of going about it is pretty revolutionary," says Clark.
Imperfect wants to have a diverse array of produce in the boxes from around the state, but lots of the elements may come from Central California including plums and other stone fruit from Exeter packer Chris Tantau.
“I say all my children are beautiful, we grow them all and they are beautiful," Tantau says. "But if you get a hail mark or things like that cosmetically we’ve been trained when we go to the supermarket they’re all on the shelf and we pick through them till we find the good ones.”
Because of the mentality towards only buying beautiful food, Tantau says the Imperfect concept is a both a lifesaver and a moneymaker. With the program he’ll turn a small profit on the blemished fruit.
That’s the sound of ugly plums dropping into a wood bin. Tantau has so much produce that doesn’t meet American food ideals that 40,000 pounds a week is trucked off to feed cattle or to food banks. He says that fruit is often tastier than what people buy in grocery stores.
“Is this good to eat?" says Tantau as he bites into an ugly plum. "The eating quality is no different then what we’re seeing it’s just ugly, ugly.”
"I think more and more and people are interested in solving the food waste crisis, but I think our method of going about it is pretty revolutionary." - Ron Clark
Tantau’s says his fruit packing company Venida is a perfect fit for Imperfect. Clark says that by linking with farmers on this ugly food project, Imperfect hopes to slowly turn the tide on how much food the United States wastes.
“Imperfect is all about changing that paradigm. We want the American consumer to sort of relearn their habits that have been picked up over the years through marketing of picking up the most beautiful produce and realizing in nature a lot of it doesn’t grow that way.”
The home delivery Imperfect box launches late this summer with a focus on Oakland and Berkeley. The group also is working on an ugly food partnership with a major US grocery chain that may be announced in the coming months.
