Imagine a supermarket throwing away a perfectly good apple just because it's the wrong shape. This project looks at the strict 'beauty rules' for food that cause this waste. It finds ways to change those rules and helps businesses sell 'ugly' but tasty food to customers.
Strict cosmetic and quality standards for food lead to the disposal of safe, nutritious produce. This creates unnecessary waste and financial loss for producers and retailers.
A set of 15 deliverables including an inventory of private/public standards, an empirical evidence base for waste estimates, and operational guidance for selling suboptimal foods.
If you are a supermarket chain dealing with high waste of fruits and vegetables due to cosmetic standards — this project developed guidance on selecting marketing channels that help you sell suboptimal foods and quantify their business value.
If you are a grower dealing with crops that are rejected by buyers for not meeting strict quality criteria — this project developed evidence-based solutions to rebalance marketing standards and improve market access for these products.
If you are a processor dealing with raw materials that don't meet EU marketing standards — this project developed a way to identify the most relevant standards causing waste across 5 key commodities to help you reduce losses.
Based on available project data, the project focuses on quantifying the business value of suboptimal foods to turn a liability into a source of revenue.
Yes, the project uses 16 multi-actor case studies across 5 key commodities to ensure the solutions are applicable to real-world supply chains.
Based on available project data, no specific IP or licensing terms are mentioned; it provides operational and policy guidance.
The project targets EU Food Marketing Standards (FMS), including public standards, private standards, and those adopted by specific Member States.
The project runs from 2024-01-01 to 2026-12-31, with results delivered through 15 total deliverables.
The consortium is highly industry-oriented with 22 partners, featuring a 41% industry ratio (9 industry partners, 8 of which are SMEs). This strong commercial presence, combined with 5 research institutes and 2 universities across 7 countries, suggests the results will be grounded in practical market needs rather than just academic theory.
Contact the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) in Belgium.
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