Would you eat misshapen fruit or vegetables to save our planet? Portuguese co-op Fruta Feia successfully diverts ‘ugly’ produce from waste streams by buying it directly from farmers and selling it to customers in cities around the country. Its biggest takeaway? Consumers might be less superficial than we think.
Most of us like to imagine we wouldn’t judge a book by its cover – but what about a banana by its peel?
When it comes to fruit and vegetables, most people prefer to purchase food that’s fresh, symmetrical, and – yes – handsome. So, what happens to the produce that doesn’t measure up to our standards?
Driven by consumer demand, retailers routinely reject fruit and vegetables that don’t meet the cosmetic ideals we’ve become accustomed to – and, unfortunately, most of it goes in the bin.
It’s estimated that around a third of of all fruit and vegetables in Europe are discarded because of their appearance alone, despite the fact that ‘ugly’ produce is no less tasty or nutritious than its ‘perfect’ counterpart. (In fact, some studies suggest it might be healthier.)
Waste like this represents more than the discarded produce itself. The cost is significant, including everything from the money invested in producing the fruit and vegetables to the labour required and the emissions expended in harvesting and transporting them.
While awareness around the need to change attitudes towards ugly produce is growing, in Portugal, a small co-operative doing exactly that already celebrated it’s 10th anniversary – in November 2023, to be exact.
Known as Fruta Feia – ‘ugly fruit’ in Portuguese – this non-profit’s approach to fighting waste is simple enough: each week, the co-op purchases the misshapen produce its network of farmers can’t sell to supermarkets and distributes it to customers at a fraction of the price.
“Farmers cannot choose the shapes and colours and sizes that nature gives us,” says Fruta Feia team member João Eustáquio.
“There’s a big percentage of produce that doesn’t end up being sold. We don’t normally see that because the supermarkets have stopped buying it from farmers. But it’s still a big percentage of what farmers produce.”
Founded by Isabel Soares in 2013, Fruta Feia has grown from one selling point, in Lisbon, to 16 in cities across the country.
To date, it estimates that it has saved more than 6,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables from going to waste, putting more than €3.2 million back in the hands of farmers, avoiding 5,370 tonnes of C02 equivalent emissions, and saving a significant amount of resources at the same time.
Keeping it in the Community
More and more ‘ugly produce’ traders are appearing around the world – many of them as profit-making enterprises. However, Fruta Feia has remained true to its roots as a co-operative.
“Nowadays, food waste is very trendy, which is great … There are a lot of other companies that are building their businesses around it, which is good – the more the better. But when [Fruta Feia] started – and this is still the idea – it was meant to be for everybody,” says João.
Each customer pays a subscription fee of €5 per year, after which they can select between a small box, containing 3 to 4 kilos of produce, for €4, or a large one, containing 6 to 8 kilos and 8 varieties, for €8.
Making sure the cost is affordable is key to Fruta Feia’s mission, but so is paying its farmers a fair price.
“One of the main ideas of the project is to not only help consumers fight food waste by consuming the products that would be going to waste but also give farmers money for the things that they couldn’t sell otherwise. So the money we pay to them has to at least cover their expenses in production, which quite frequently doesn’t happen when supermarkets buy it,” says João.
As a non-profit, all the money earned is put back into the co-operative.
“We pay our salaries, we pay for the gasoline for the vans, and we buy the produce from the farmers. It’s completely self sustaining.”
Sowing the Seeds of a Resilient Future
While Fruta Feia’s operation might be humming along now, getting it off the ground wasn’t straightforward.
After Isabel’s original concept took out second prize in a national competition for entrepreneurs run by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and COTEC Portugal, she supplemented the prize money with crowdfunding to get the ball rolling. But the real challenge was convincing producers to get on board.
“When Isabel started reaching out to farmers, most of them were suspicious of the idea,” says João.
“They said: ‘I’ve been doing this my whole life – I’ve been producing watercress, or lettuce, or sweet potato, or whatever – and you’re telling me that you’re going to buy the produce that I cannot sell? That’s a lie.’”
“So it was a bit of a struggle in the beginning for her. But from an initial network of only about 10 farmers, it’s grown. At the moment, we work with about 320 farmers.”
It’s not just the farmers that are convinced. With more than 8,700 members, Fruta Feia shows that consumers are more than willing to buy produce that doesn’t fit the usual cosmetic standards.
And a change in attitude can’t come too soon.
According to the World Economic Forum, recent heatwaves and droughts around the world have resulted in an increasing number of oddly shaped fruit and vegetables, meaning that, in the future, we might have no choice but to leave our prejudices at the supermarket doors.
For his part, João believes Fruta Feia’s unique model could easily be adapted to other cities around the world.
“I definitely think it has the potential to work in other places, because, if you think about it, it’s a pretty simple model. That’s why it works.”
More important than its potential to work in other countries and contexts, however, is the social conscience that underpins it.
“I’ve only been working at Fruta Feia for five years, but it’s been a really amazing experience … There’s a social aspect to it. We sell fresh produce to people that are in the area, local people, and we also work with volunteers who want to come in and help us assemble the baskets.”
“There are so many good aspects to it. I’m still surprised, and even humbled, at how well the project works.”
This article was updated on 13 September 2024 to show the most recent estimates for the quantity of food saved. It now stands at 6,000 tonnes; before it read as 4,000 tonnes.