Waitose to sell "Ugly" fruit & veg.

[WendyS]

Was interested to see that Waitrose are planning a "back to basics" philosophy - i.e. they are going to sell blemished or "not quite perfect looking" fruit & veg in the belief that the public want good flavours, rather than perfect looking products.

Will you buy them? I certainly will. If I can't eat home grown, I'd rather patronise farm shops, etc where possible, where the misshapen and natural stuff is available. I think the public have been innoculated with a "perfect appearance" mentality which causes a lot of product to be wasted when there's absolutely nothing wrong with taste and flavour.

[heathfield]

I think that Waitrose will have looked at big price mark-up possibilities when combined with appealing advertising under the guise of it being an ecologically friendly thing to do. Even though they'll no doubt be cheaper than more perfect products, Waitrose will probably be giving the suppliers next to nothing for them on the principle that they'd just be dumped otherwise.

[Rock'n'Roll]

Anyone who's grown their own stuff will know that not all Fruit and veg come perfectly shaped,and the definitely don't come with a coating of wax to make them shine.

Good on Waitrosesf

[n00dles]

Yep! Good ol' Waitrose!!

They already sell Ugli fruit...very nice it is too!

[Xollob]

From a Guardian report of last year:

"Some 30%-40% by weight of all food grown can be lost. Retailers and food processors demand unblemished, specifically sized, shaped and coloured food. Bumper crops resulting from high temperatures cannot always find a market because of the declining wholesale trade . Food is usually ploughed back in to the fields."

One can question Waitrose's motivation, but anything that helps remedy this situation described above is good. Next step: stop buying tomatoes just because they are red, shiny and round.

[nickmo]

Tried to restist but got to chuck in my comment - this is opportunism of the highest degree -

They have just opened a store near me so I'll check their pricing policy - no doubt they will load the prices as it is a 'difficuclt' to handle product if it does not comply - and this then raises the issue about rejection from the packing plant - what determines mis-shapen produce that they will then pack sepreately to offer to the customer anyway?

Heard a lot about the loss of produce and problems producers have in keeping lambs small enough to fit the plastic tray or no red on apples - even though that is what they should have if the variety is meant to and packers will turn the apple round so only green shows - pathetic.

40% of carrots grown in the UK do not get to the shops as they do not comply to the shops demand for size criteria, so why are Waitrose - the farmers' friend (?) - now saying we can buy this stuff and calling it something different, as if nature was really funny in some way?

Don't believe there is anything other than a blatant attempt to say 'round produce' or whatever is the norm and if a plum has a lobe on one side it is 'weird'.

[tobeloy]

Well done waitrose,

I for one am fed up with the perfectly formed fruit an veg attitude adopted by retailers and its not teaching our kids properly....

[Kim A]

Quite interestingly (well, I thought so), Sainsbury have been selling Grade 2 fruit for a while under their 'Basics' range. I have tried the strawberries - great knobbly brutes, with lumps and bumps, but surprisingly more interesting flavour than the standard shiny, three times as expensive varieties they sell. The lemons in the range are good, too, very flavoury rind and very juicy. However, I've overheard loads of people saying ' Ugh, not buying those, they don't look very nice', so maybe the supermarkets have already indoctrinated the population too far to get them back into rough looking produce. I still prefer to buy mine from the farmshop, but sometimes there just isn't one around when I need to shop. It remains to be seen whether or not this initiative will take off.