More than one third of fruit and vegetables never reach the supermarket shelves because they are misshapen or the wrong size according to research from the University of Edinburgh. More than 50m tonnes of fruit and vegetables grown across Europe are discarded each year, largely because they do not meet supermarkets and consumers’ standards of how they should look, the study showed.

The study took place within the European Economic Area and examined how much food is discarded each year and why. There were a number of reasons including strict government regulations, supermarkets’ high standards and the consumers’ expectations of how fruit and vegetables should look.

Consumer preferences

There have been moves by some supermarkets throughout the world to sell these misshapen foods at a discounted price in a bid to change consumer behaviour. Scientists suggest that greater awareness among consumers, and a movement towards shopping sustainably, could encourage the sale of more ugly vegetables. They also suggest a greater use of misshapen produce, for example in chopped, processed or picked goods, or for sale at a discount to charities. If a market were to develop for misshapen fruit and vegetables it could also lead to increased returns for farmers as well as increased efficiency at harvesting.