Name: The business turning rejected produce into savings and cutting food waste
Uploaded: 2025-12-26T03:56:21.393Z
Duration: 2 min 53 s
Description: Abhi Ramesh launched Misfits Market in 2018, an online grocery store that buys rejected produce from farmers and packages it for sale across the country. Skyler Henry reports.

Abhi Ramesh launched Misfits Market in 2018, an online grocery store that buys rejected produce from farmers and packages it for sale across the country. Skyler Henry reports.

A significant portion of farm produce is rejected by grocery stores each year due to cosmetic imperfections, leading to over $17 billion in food waste annually in the United States. Misfits Market, an online grocery company, addresses this issue by purchasing and distributing imperfect produce directly to consumers at lower prices, helping to reduce waste and provide affordable food options.

Since its founding in 2018, Misfits Market has saved 200 million pounds of food from being discarded, although it has yet to turn a profit. Customers benefit from discounts of 15-20% compared to traditional grocery stores, while farmers find a new market for their otherwise unsellable crops.

The business turning rejected produce into savings and cutting food waste

There is one possible solution to higher food prices. It's not perfect, but that's exactly the idea. Scholar Henry has tonight's Eye on America. There's a certain juice those here at Florida Georgia Citrus work with. The farm expects to harvest about seven million pounds of produce a year. That's a perfect piece of fruit. But farmer Kim Jones says not every piece of fruit is the orange of a grocery store's eye. I'm gonna put it all for you. So that's what we call an imperfect piece of fruit. But Jones can't sell, gets sorted in separate bins where he only has a few weeks before determining what has to be thrown out. These crates filled with hundreds of oranges are just some of the more than 20 billion pounds of produce grocery stores reject each year because they say it's imperfect. One estimate says that's more than $17 billion in food waste annually. Prices have skyrocketed over the last three years. A $100 grocery bill in early 2022 is now more than $118, higher costs for the already high cosmetic standards. Everything good? Thank you. Abhi Ramesh noticed a problem with the system in 2018. The whole grocery ecosystem's been built around making sure everything's perfectly uniform on the shelf. And so these get discarded and that's the opportunity. Ramesh launched Misfits Market, the online grocery store buys rejected produce from farmers and packages them in four warehouses across the country, including this one just outside Baltimore. When people think about food waste, they think, oh, is it stuff rotting in a landfill? But that's not it. It is the apple that wasn't shaped perfectly. At the same time, you have millions of folks all across the country that don't have access to healthy, affordable food. The online grocery store hasn't yet turned a profit as it saved 200 million pounds of food from being trashed by shipping it to customers across the country. Jojo Chang started shopping Misfits four years ago where she's been able to take advantage of the often discounted rejected produce. I find stuff is usually like 15 to 20% off on Misfits versus in the regular grocery store. And you can also get produce or items that you wouldn't typically see at like your local grocery store. Nowadays, most of her grocery haul, she says, is bought online. This helps reduce food waste in grocery stores and helps with farmers as well. That's something that you're conscious of, just the reducing food waste of it all. Yes, definitely. Back on the farm, any idea that helps, Jones says, is a plus because after all. Peel all that off and you wind up with a juicy piece of fruit. Oh, it's perfect. Still got a good flavor. It's what's on the inside that counts. For Eye on America, I'm Skyler Henry in Monticello, Florida.

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