197815680_a870e406ee_bThe average person (myself included) assumes that all produce that is edible gets picked and finds its way to grocery store shelves.  After reading a post from Jeffery Wankel at Beyond Bread, I found out that this isn’t the case

 

The example he gives is in reference to cucumbers.  Apparently, while they are sorted there are certain criteria the need to be met in order for the cucumbers to go to market:

 

“Cucumbers are rejected for several reasons:

A. They are too curvy for efficient packaging.
B. They have a small white spot at one end, usually only one square inch in size. This is caused by the tip being buried and missing out on photosynthesis. 97% of the cuke is green and edible, but grocery stores still won’t take them.
C. They have small cracks that keep them from the market. Rod notes that, while cucumbers do have a short shelf life, the cracks don’t affect taste or ripeness.”

 

Sadly, those cucumbers that don’t make the cut are just left on the ground to be used as fertilizer.  Often times the farmers do not have the time or resources to donate this wasted produce to organizations like Campus Kitchens.  How much produce could be donated if there was an avenue for these farmers to easily get their crops from their fields to other organizations.  Robert Egger likes to say “We don’t have a food problem in this country, we have a transportation problem”.

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