Wonky bread and veg business moves into fruit as its mission to bring down food waste continues

Wonky and surplus food brand Earth & Wheat has declared ‘war on fruit waste’ and entered the market with a new Variety Fruit Box.

The 5kg box, which launches on 1 August, includes fresh fruit such as apples, pears, oranges, satsumas, melons, passionfruit, kiwis, mangoes, and nectarines.

The brand’s move into fruit was its next “logical step”, according to its founder James Eid, since it is one of the most wasted foods on the planet, with millions of pieces of perfectly good fruit dumped in the bin every day.

According to WRAP, more than half of the food waste generated by UK manufacturing and retail sectors is avoidable.

The UK wastes 1.9 million tonnes of food and drink per year, 1.1 million tonnes of which is avoidable, worth £1.9 billion. Fresh fruit and vegetables represent around 11 per cent alone of this total, equating to 100,000 tonnes.

Earth & Wheat rescues wonky but good-quality surplus food at the point of production from fruit growers and suppliers around the UK. These businesses are regularly forced to waste fruit due to its odd shape, size, colour or cosmetic specifications, which do not meet retailers’ strict standards.

Eid said: “Our mission is to stop food waste in the supply chain as early as possible, which means combatting waste at farm level – where so much fruit is thrown away because it is either too big or too small, too odd or strange looking.

”This means it destined for one place – the bin – before it even hits the shelves. This is unacceptable. Wonky and surplus fruit is perfectly delicious to eat.

“Due to variances in weather conditions, sometimes crops grow ‘wonky’. Additionally, seasonality and demand will affect surplus stock quantities, resulting in perfectly good fruit being tossed aside.

“It is this type of invisible waste, that consumers do not see, which Earth & Wheat is fighting to reduce by redistributing it to our valued customers.”

Earth & Wheat launched in 2021 with the world’s first ‘wonky bread’ box before introducing a ‘wonky veg’ box, followed by a wide range of artisan and patisserie and plant-based bread boxes.

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