Baskets of ugly vegetables at low prices to fight against food waste

Dismissed from supermarket shelves for their non-compliant shape or size, ugly vegetables are enjoying a second life in Saint-Pol-de-Léon in Finistère. No more dumpster for crooked carrots, oversized turnips, or slightly deformed potatoes. These unsold items, a company run by a former director of fruit and vegetable purchases in supermarkets has been offering them for sale for three months.

Karim Vincent-Viry decided to take action against food waste a few years ago when he walked past an entire dumpster of fruit and vegetables one day. Products that do not comply with the specifications of the mass distribution intended for the trash. Every day, between 15 and 20 truckloads of “outsized” vegetables are said to be discarded or not picked up in the region. “These are vegetables that are full of vitamins, which are completely edible, I found it a shame to throw them away and that’s what made me want to create my company.”

These oversized fresh vegetables are sold in baskets made up of 5 euros. A low price that has already won over many customers. 10 to 15 tonnes of vegetables are sold at relay points in Brittany. “I find that they are the ones who do a good deed with us, because suddenly we have a lot of things for cheap”, says Christine, a regular customer. The company buys the vegetables that are usually thrown away from 800 producers in the region. In France, 16% of vegetable production would be thrown away because it does not meet supermarket criteria.