Malnutrition

[Bazile]

Following on from the thread below , from sandyRoe , about malnutrition .

Here we have tonnes of fresh fruit and veg being dumped , all because they "failed" the "cosmetic standards"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34647454


//Yet the supermarket client found them wanting. They "failed" the "cosmetic standards". They weren't wonky, or forked, or bruised or even "ugly". They just departed, sometimes by a matter of millimetres, from some bizarre set of specifications that defines, with apparent omniscience, what it is that we, the customers, demand our parsnips to be. Not that anyone's asked us.//

[Retrochic]

the people who suffer from malnutrition in the UK are eating the wrong things by choice not because they can't afford food. Throw a box of free fruit and veg at most and they would not know what to do with it. More education and compulsory cookery lessons in school would be a start.

[maggiebee]

The ever compassionate retro sprouts forth again.

[Mamyalynne]

It's a crying shame to see such wastage.

[maggiebee]

Agree Mamy, surely there is some way to distribute this food. What happens when these farmers go out of business - more imports?

[viv41]

It depresses me the amount of food wasted all the time, supermarkets throw out food constantly that is still perfectly eatable. So sad.

[jackthehat]

It would be interesting to find out exactly who makes these decisions and why. Anyone growing their own fruit and veg will be aware that 'misshapen' produce takes no different from it's more aesthetically pleasing neighbour.

[mccfluff]

i hate seeing waste like this and i don't understand why its rejected, if supermarkets don't want it, what about market traders

thanks

[Mamyalynne]

Exactly Jack , many of us don't have the local greengrocer or market stalls any more and are dependent on supermarkets.

[mccfluff]

lol, ignore the thanks, that was meant to be on the end of an email... or so i thought, some poor sod now has an email with me ranting about parsnips.....:-D

[woofgang]

Waitrose tried this. They had a "cooks ingredients" range of less than perfect fruit and veg. I don't know what happened but they no longer seem to offer it so maybe we, the buying public rejected it?

[Mamyalynne]

I think sadly some farms are tied in to contracts with the big retailers and can't pick and choose who they sell to , that is a bad situation too.

[mccfluff]

if they can't sell it then they should give it away, morally and ethically its the right thing to do. throwing perfectly good food away is criminal in my mind

[keyplus90]

Whether it is malnutrition or hunger it is due to only a handful of reasons. Malnutrition In certain countries is because of “use by date” or cosmetic reasons as you mentioned. And hunger in few countries is due to unequal distribution of food. We human are never satisfied and somewhere people are dying of hunger and in other parts of the world obesity is the problem.

[tamborine]

Cant it be sent to food kitchens for homeless?

[-Talbot-]

It's sickening when you think about how many people in the world are starving, never mind suffering from malnutrition.

[Retrochic]

maggiebee The ever antagonistic Maggie spouts (not sprouts dear) forth again lol!
Compassion does not put food on tables. Its a fact a large proportion of the 'poor and vulnerable'- and I use that term very loosely - do not have the basic skills to provide a meal from scratch using fresh ingredients. I don't want to feel sorry for them or criticise -I want them to be educated into preparing good nutritional meals for less than the cost of a family bucket at KFC -what is wrong with that?

[ummmm]

You could buy a weeks worth of veg and some for the price of a family bucket.

[bazwillrun]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3289971/After-Poundshop-99p-shop-s-25p-shop-Businesswoman-20-sets-new-bargain-store-selling-supermarket-brands-pennies.html

I happened to read about this yesterday...

You can blame the Food Standards Agency, Elf n safety and consumers who are for the most part are media hypnotised into only wanting unblemished veg etc etc...bit of mud on a spud and people dont touch them, bruised apples the same and on it goes.

Best by dates Sell by dates etc etc, people are scared to eat the stuff if its over the dates because theyve been made to believe it will kill them or god knows what..shops k r a p p themselves thelly be fined, sued if they contavene the "rules"...

Ive eaten stuff well past the dates..if it looks ok and smells ok then its pretty much ok...a little bit of green mould on bread, just cut it off, Ive never been ill eating anything doing this.

This nonsense with dates and shops and food is typical of todays nanny state and making peole scared of everything..

[ummmm]

You don't get sell by dates when you shop at the butchers/fishmongers/green grocers.

[Mamyalynne]

A bright young lady Baz.