This new student-led initiative wants to tell you all about ugly food and why it’s perfectly edible

One of the many piles of discarded fruit and vegetables at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. Photo: Food Unfiltered
One of the many piles of discarded fruit and vegetables at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. Photo: Food Unfiltered

We’ve talked about the topic of food waste before — when the National Environment Agency released a study showing how households throw out about 2.5kg of food waste weekly, and when a ground-up volunteer group called SG Food Rescue was set up earlier this year to “rescue” unsellable but edible food from market vendors and donate them to soup kitchens or charity organizations.

Now, we’re shining the spotlight on new initiative Food Unfiltered — led by students from Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information — which aims to reduce the amount of food waste created by cosmetic filtering. Basically, they want to educate the public on how “ugly food” is actually completely edible. These fruits and vegetables may look imperfect on the outside, but we all know it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

So one simple solution to cut down on food waste is to embrace “ugly food”. According to Food Unfiltered, about 46 percent of food across the globe never make it from farm to fork just because of their less-than-ideal appearances.

Common misconceptions about “ugly food” include perceptions that they’re not as fresh or tasty, and that they offer lower nutritional value or pose health risks.

So to change the public’s opinion on “ugly food”, the initiative joined forces with a nutritionist to debut a four-part series that addresses these misconceptions.

Watch the other clips on the Food Unfiltered Facebook page.



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