Ugly fruit is taking Canada by storm. Here's why you should care.

Ugly produce is having its day in the sun

IMAGE: TWITTER

BY SARAH SPIGELMAN RICHTER3 DAYS AGO

The much-maligned misshapen apple is ready for its day in the sun. There is just too much hunger, poverty and food waste to continue to push ugly fruit into the trash can for no reason other than aesthetics. 

That's the whole idea behind Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws' "Naturally Imperfect" produce line that offers aesthetically unpleasing and bruised produce at reduced rates to shoppers. Shoppers took to the idea in droves, The Huffington Post reports.

About 1.3 billion tons of food is "lost or wasted," annually. That's because of a myriad of issues that includes stringent beauty standards produce must pass in order to be sold.  

Produce sold in the U.S. must pass muster on a beauty scale in order to even be brought to market, and if that peach isn't perfectly round and rosy-golden, it's likely to be discarded before you even get a chance to buy it. 

For example, USDA guidelines list four types of apples alone (not counting apples designated for "processing" and "apple butter"), ranging from U.S Extra Fancy to U.S. Utility. All of those categories must be "not seriously deformed" and free from cosmetic blemishes like bruising or surface discoloration. None of the items on the checklist have to do with taste. 

Loblaws "Naturally Imperfect" produce line started in select Ontario and Quebec stores in March 2015. selling misshapen potatoes and apples. It has since expanded to stores in other provinces. 

A major reason to bring the line to market was to offset the past year's low Canadian dollar, along with other factors including California's historic drought. From January 2015 to January 2016, fresh vegetable prices rose 18.2%. Something had to give. And that something was aesthetics. 

Dan Branson, the company's senior director of produce, tells Huffington Post, "It [the produce line] really went well above and beyond what our expectation was."

Now there will be a larger variety of produce offered, like peppers, onions and mushrooms in Quebec and Ontario. Additionally, "Naturally Imperfect" produce will be available at many other Loblaws brand stores in provinces across the country.

Canada isn't the first country to embrace the ugly vegetable.

In 2014, French supermarket chain Intermarché launched a successful campaign selling "Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables," at reduced prices. The ad campaign included casting misshapen fruits and vegetables as glamorous celebrities, regardless of their outward appearances. 

The results included a 24% increase in overall store traffic, and was perhaps a part in France's 2015 law that demands unsold food be donated to charity or fed to livestock instead of being demolished. 

Elsewhere, UK retailer Waitrose has begun selling slightly imperfect produce at reduced prices and in Portugal, the Fruta Feia cooperative obtains ugly but delicious produce from farmers. 

Though there are efforts to combat food waste, it's clear some see this as a time to address this on a national level by having the option to buy less-than-perfect produce in a big box grocery store. Having access to food (currently thrown away for aesthetic reasons) that is both cheap and fresh is a good start to tackling food waste and hunger.