Brisbane greengrocer sells 'ugly' produce

Misshapen, malformed or marked fruit and vegetables deemed not perfect enough for supermarkets are being marketed as "ugly" produce at a Brisbane fruit barn. And customers are happily snapping them up.

Three months ago, family-run fruit shop Charlie's Fruit Market at Everton Park began selling "ugly fruit and veg" online.

"It's not just about it being cheap, customers have told us they really like buying this produce that's not so good looking and just goes to waste otherwise," says Charlie's co-owner Johnny Tabet.

Deemed imperfect or second grade by supermarkets, common "ugly" fruit and vegetables include bent zucchinis and cucumbers, malformed capsicums, spotty avocados, citrus fruits with slight marks on the skin, or fruit and vegetables with a host of other imperfections that don't affect the flavour.

"Ten years ago what we call 'second grade' now was first grade," says Rocklea wholesaler Chris Panos from Sun Produce. "Consumers just accepted those small imperfections as natural, but now if they've been trained to believe that if it looks better the flavour will be better, which is not necessarily the case."

Panos says that many farmers are forced to dump food crops.

"Often it's not viable for farmers to send it to the markets because there's just not the demand and prices are low. Whatever the farmer grows still costs them the same per tonne to grow but the cost of re-bagging the seconds and sending them to the market means they may end up losing money. So they have to dump it instead."

However, a worldwide trend is seeing a slow reversal in the public's perception of imperfect produce that would otherwise end up as landfill. United Kingdom supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose promote ranges of "ugly" fruit and vegetables. In July, French supermarket scheme has expanded to all of its 1800 stores and an ad marketing the "inglorious" produce went viral on social media.

Tabet says consumer interest has been so strong that he's creating a section in the store for the "ugly" fruit and vegetables.

"Our customers are really happy and it's not just about the 50 per cent discount – they like the idea of supporting farmers," Tabet says.