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Taste Before Beauty

Taste Before Beauty

The ‘taste before beauty’ campaign aims to highlight the avoidable food waste that is created when supermarkets reject large amounts of food because it is not cosmetically perfect.

In 2012… big supermarkets ‘relax’ high cosmetic standards but for how long?

Due to the extreme weather conditions in 2012 UK farmers suffered one of the worst harvests in recent years but it was not all bad news for UK farmers as most of the big superkermartes announced a reversal of policy and started stocking uncosmetically perfect fruit and vegetables, which meant farmers could sell more of their harvest yields.

It was estimated that 25% of fresh UK harvests were affected by the bad weather, resulting in retailers struggling to source their regular supply of blemish-free crops and taking the unprecedented step of relaxing their former high cosmetic standards.

Initially many supermarkets were planning to source better-looking fresh produce from overseas but lobbying from the National Farmers’ Union (and ourselves) have resulted in misshapen fruit and vegetables hitting our shelves.

All the main supermarkets including Waitrose, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda started stocking uncosmetically perfect fruit and vegetables.

However, most of these uncosmetically perfect fruit and vegetables end up in supermarket value ranges reinforcing the idea that misshapen and smaller fruit and vegetables are of a lower class than their cosmetically perfect counterparts. AND there is also a real risk that this change of heart from the big supermarkets is only temporary and, if there is an improvement in growing conditions in the next few years, supermarkets could revert to their former beauty pageant ways for fresh produce.

Fruit and vegetables grown in the UK are governed by European Union food regulations but supermarkets often require producers to meet even higher cosmetic perfection standards, which leads to even more perfectly edible food being ‘graded out’. [1]

Before the change of heart supermarket chains often said that they were responding to what their customers wanted by only stocking cosmetically perfect fruit and vegetables. Manchester Friends of the Earth argue that most customers were and are still unaware of the amount of perfectly good food that was and is still being wasted and if given the choice would buy this fresh produce, especially if it was less pricy than its perfect counterpart.

Join our campaign to ask them to put ‘taste before beauty’ and tell your supermarket that you are happy to buy great tasting food that isn’t cosmetically perfect and that you want a pledge from them that they will continue to stock uncosmetically perfect fruit and vegetables even if harvests return to normal in the coming years.

What you can do.

  • Write to your supermarket or speak to the store manager next time you go shopping to send a clear message to your supermarket that you don’t want them to reject perfectly good food ever again. While we know it is more sustainable to support local independent retailers and local producers (see section below), the reality is that the majority of food purchased in the UK is through a small number of large companies – so it’s important to send a clear message to them.
  • Sign our petition asking the government to set a food waste reduction action plan for food businesses like supermarkets and others.
  • Shop at local independent grocers where less stringent grading processes will have been used. Ask them what their view is about food which has been graded out and whether it would be possible for them to stock food from local growers which might otherwise be wasted.
  • Sign up to a box scheme which supports local growers. The amount of food wasted by small scale producers working with box schemes is far lower than the more highly packaged food offered in supermarkets. Contact the box scheme and ask them about what producers they work with do with the less perfect food. Let them know you’d be happy to have it in your box.
  • Buy fresh fruit and vegetables at your local farmers’ market. Direct sales to customers do not require producers to grade out produce. Talk to the producer at the market and ask them about their less perfect food, let them know you’d buy it.
  • Keep in touch with Manchester Friends of the Earth. We will be developing this campaign and others over the coming months and welcome involvement from anyone interested in this work!

 

Background and further reading:

[1] A new EU Regulation (543/2011 ) on marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables came into effect from 22 June 2011. This regulation supercedes EC Regulation 1580/2007. A summary of these regulations or full details of the new regulations are available.

Why where you shop is important in addressing avoidable food waste

The table below estimates the amount of food that is graded out in the different trading sectors. The ‘Pre-pack’ column is where supermarkets fit in. Direct Marketing relates to box schemes, farmers markets.

Case Study: Apples

The campaign postcards currently focus on apples, which are one of 10 different types of fruit and vegetables that are subject to ‘Specific Marketing Standards’.

The regulations shown below shows the criteria which apple growers need to meet to be able to sell apples. If supermarkets add additional ‘cosmetic perfection’ criteria it is easy to see why perfectly good food is ‘graded out’. This occurs more often when food is being packaged for large supermarkets.

For example a Supermarket contract with a grower may specify that they will only accept a certain size of apples.

These are the requirements for apples:

  • Minimum requirements
  • Maturity requirements
  • Classification (quality defined as Extra Class, Class 1 and Class 2. Within this section of the regulations colour requirements are specified for each class of apple).
  • Provisions concerning size

Size is determined either by the maximum diameter of the equatorial section or by weight.

The minimum size shall be 60 mm, if measured by diameter or 90 g, if measured by weight. Fruit of smaller sizes may be accepted, if the Brix level of the produce is equal to or greater than to 10,5° Brix and the size is not smaller than 50 mm or 70 g.

To ensure the uniformity in size, the range in size between produce in the same package shall not exceed:

(a) for fruit sized by diameter:

5 mm for ‘Extra’ Class fruit and for Classes I and II fruit packed in rows and layers. However, for apples of the varieties Bramley’s Seedling (Bramley, Triomphe de Kiel) and Horneburger, the difference in diameter may amount to 10 mm, and

10 mm for Class I fruit packed loose in the package or sales packages.

However, for apples of the varieties Bramley’s Seedling (Bramley, Triomphe de Kiel) and Horneburger, the difference in diameter may amount to 20 mm,

(b) for fruit sized by weight:

For ‘Extra’ Class and Classes I and II apples packed in rows and layers:

Range (g) Weight difference (g) 70-90 15g 91-135 20g 136-300 40g 201-300 40g > 300 50g

or Class I fruit packed loose in the package or in sales packages:

Range (g) Uniformity (g) 70-135 35 136-300 70 > 300 100

There is no sizing uniformity requirement for Class II fruit packed loose in the package or in sales packages.

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