Consumer behaviour is still the main driver for supermarkets not changing their strict standards on how food should look which contributes to huge food waste issues in the UK according to the founder of leading wonky and surplus food provider Earth & Wheat.
James Eid says around one in three people are still unaware that food waste affects the environment but if food waste were an emitter of greenhouses gases as a country, it would be the world’s third ‘biggest’ behind the USA and China.
Eid, who founded Earth & Wheat which launched the world’s first ‘Wonky Bread Box’ in 2021, said consumer attitudes would have to change if the UK was seriously going to tackle the amount of food that food manufacturers are forced to throw away every day.
Food that is wonky, an odd shape or has colour imperfections are the most popular reasons why produce is rejected and thrown straight in the bin. Asked if supermarkets should make allowances to food makers which would allow shoppers to be offered more of these items, Eid, who was speaking to Food Rebels as part of its ‘sustainable food heroes’ podcast, said: “Consumers drive that and they are not happy to buy a product because it’s too big or small or, for example, it’s not the right weight.
“If it is underweight, it must be rejected. If people want to buy 500g of bread, then they want 500g of bread or more. However, if people accept bread as a natural product and it is going to vary as to how it looks and feels but not how it tastes, then there will not be that pressure on supermarkets to demand the same type of bread in the same type of way.
“When food manufacturers supply into retail, there is a specification that they have to make and if they don’t supply the right product, it might get sent back so there’s no point supplying a tortilla which is too big even though there’s no difference to it apart from its shape. It is still perfectly good to eat.
“Around 28 per cent of people are still unaware that food waste affects the environment according to our research so there’s a huge educational piece to be had so that people realise that food waste is such an important thing to tackle. If food waste were an emitter of greenhouse gases as a country,
it would be the world’s third biggest emitter behind US and China.”
Eid started rescuing food for Earth & Wheat from his family bakery in Dunstable three years ago when he was just 20 years old, and he revealed that ‘everyone was skeptical’ about his start-up business taking off but that it quickly exceeded expectations.
“I’m 23 now and started Earth & Wheat three years ago to reduce food waste at the point of production,” said Eid. “Our bakery, given its size and efficiencies, means bread waste can be as low as one per cent, which doesn’t sound like a lot but at high volume it starts to add up.
“We needed to find a way to rescue that product because we do not want it going to landfill or being turned into animal feed because everyone knows it’s not sustainable that way and that is when Earth & Wheat was born.
“Everyone was skeptical. I was given a very small budget to make this work and within four weeks we reached our annual target, which was fantastic. This is kind of when things started moving and we were able to grow our customer base with marketing.
“We have since worked with other bakeries, small enterprises, who have higher wastage because they don’t have production lines and the bread is often hand-crafted and they also ship direct from their bakeries. Bread stales exponentially so it is really important to get it in the hands of consumers quickly. Now we deliver to 98 per cent of mainland UK.”
Eid also revealed Earth & Wheat is set to break into the retail market later in the year. He added: “We’re soon to be in retail from November. I can’t tell you who with or what product, but it’s an exclusive partnership so that’s very exciting.”
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