What is food waste in Québec?

The numbers that hurt

In Québec, we waste about $13 billion worth of food every year. That's nearly 30% of all the food produced ending up in the trash instead of on our plates. Vegetables that are too small, fruit with a spot, tomatoes that aren't round enough: a lot of this food never even makes it to the grocery store because it isn't "pretty" by industry standards.

That's exactly where Pretty Ugly comes in.

Why do we waste so much?

There are several reasons, but the two biggest are:

Industry beauty standards: Grocery stores and distributors reject an astronomical amount of fruits and vegetables every year purely for visual reasons. Too small, too big, not straight enough, slightly spotted. Yet this food is nutritionally perfect.

Expiry dates: Many people throw out food that's still good because they misunderstand the difference between "best before" and "use by". "Best before" means optimal quality is guaranteed until that date, not that the food is dangerous afterwards.

What we can actually do

Food waste isn't just a big-company problem. We can all act at our own level:

• Buy imperfect fruits and vegetables when possible.
• Plan your meals before going grocery shopping.
• Better understand expiry dates.
• Choose brands that upcycle food, like Pretty Ugly 😉

Our part in all this

Since the beginning, we've rescued more than 750,000 lbs of fruits and vegetables from food waste by turning them into delicious salsas and chips. Ingredients not pretty enough for the grocery store, but perfectly good for an incredible taste experience.

Because for us, imperfect is perfect.

Save the odd ones. 🥕