Whole Foods Is Testing Ugly Produce

Usually when Whole Foods does wacky things with produce, it involves something like putting asparagus in water or selling peeled oranges. We promise its latest fruit-and-veggie-related experiment won't make you mad, though. Some Whole Foods stores in Northern California will begin testing fruits and vegetables from Imperfect Produce, a company also based in California, BuzzFeed reports. As a result, produce at your local Whole Foods might start looking a little lumpy. Slightly misshapen. Like the kind of fruits and vegetables Tim Burton would create. But the influx of "ugly produce" would be a big step to cutting down on food waste.

Tossing food that isn't deemed aesthetically pleasing enough for potential shoppers creates a ton of waste. In a recent Last Week Tonight segment on the issue, host John Oliver showed a peach-tree grove dotted with discarded, wasted peaches that had been left to rot because they weren't "pretty" enough to be sold. According to Imperfect Produce, one in five pieces of produce don't pass the benchmark.

Reducing food waste is an important goal everyone should be on board with. But if you need an extra reason to be interested in ugly fruits and veggies, consider the Instagram possibilities. Anyone can snap a photo of a perfect potato. A potato that looks like a butt and/or heart, though? That will definitely get you likes.