Spinneys to sell ugly veg in the United Arab Emirates

Spinneys supermarkets will launch a new line of misshapen or oddly sized fruit and vegetables within the next few weeks, Martin Jorge Aguirre, the brand’s Commercial Manager for Fresh Produce told GN Focus. “Most farmers meet our specifications about 95 per cent of the time, but there’s still a gap,” he said.

The new line, to be called I am Imperfect, will retail at about 20 per cent lower than conventional produce, he said.

The move ties into local initiatives to reduce food waste across the country. In January, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, launched the UAE Food Bank, as part of an effort to achieve zero food waste.

However, because of their visual imperfections, consumers tend to leave them on grocery shelves. “No matter what the vegetables look like, they can still be eaten,” said Mohamed Rashid Sulaiman Al Naqbi, Agriculture Engineer at Elite Agro, an Abu Dhabi-based farming company, “They taste the same and offer the same nutritional value.”

source: gulfnews.com