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Ugly But Nutritious Veggie Movement Looks To Curb Food Waste

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (CBSNewYork) - You may have never heard of the "ugly produce movement," but what started as a small way to combat food waste has turned into a big business.

Start-ups are selling funky-looking fruits and vegetables that would have been thrown away at cheaper prices, reports CBS2's Kenneth Craig.

Juan Gonzalez works in the heart of California's farm country where about 90% of America's cauliflower is harvested every year.

He says, until recent years, his farms were also the site of a staggering amount of food waste from vegetables that never made it to store shelves, rejected simply for looking a little different.

That pickiness led to 10 million tons of cosmetically imperfect or unharvested food lost each year.

"Up here in this area we got right over 2,000 acres," he said.

But one man's trash has become another man's treasure for Ben Chesler who saw imperfect produce as the perfect recipe - and name - for a new business model.

"The goal was really to fix a part of the food system," said Chesler.

In four years, the doorstep delivery service has expanded to more than 30 markets and more than 200,000 customers including Caroline Devane's in Cambridge, Mass.

"In my experience, the food has been just as good as grocery store quality," she said. "When I look for the imperfections, I'm like, is it really imperfect? It seems just fine and it's a great price."

Other companies like Misfits Market and Hungry Harvest do something similar.

Prices vary but a box of produce can start around $15.

"It's nice to think that there's a very small consumer impact I can make just by choosing these vegetables, instead of the very beautiful vegetables at the grocery store," said Devane.

Imperfect Foods says it has already saved about 80 million pounds of food so far.

They recently expanded beyond fruits and vegetables to include other grocery items that would've gone to waste.

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