90% of tomatoes are thrown away because of their appearance

86.7% to be specific. Yes, it is outrageous, but it is true. A considerable percentage of edible food gets thrown away – not because it tastes bad, but because it doesn’t look good! The results of a research that took place at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, showed that up to 86.7% of edible tomatoes that had been harvested from a commercial Queensland farm were thrown away because of their appearance! What does that mean? That they had a bit odd shape, they were too small or to big… In a few words, they were not as… fancy as the market standards wanted them to be in order to be placed on the shelves of a super market. Instead, they were thrown away as if they had gone bad while they were still, without a doubt, edible. Australian government estimates that every year the Australian economy loses almost $20 billion because of the food that gets wasted.

Photo: gaiahealthblog.com