Article: Picky buyers hurting farmers

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Picky buyers hurting farmers

Megan McNaught From: Herald Sun December 14, 2009 1:10AM

Tough gig: Picky customers are making life hard for farmers.

"UNREALISTIC" consumer expectations for their fruit and vegetables are sending farmers broke.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Andrew Broad said fruit and vegetables with even the tiniest marks on them were virtually unsaleable as consumers had become increasingly picky.

"Twenty or 30 years ago people would have been happy to buy a small tomato or fruit with some superficial marks," Mr Broad said.

"Expectations have gone up more and more over the years and now they are unrealistic."

The search for perfect food was causing some retailers to look overseas.

"People want standardised food at a low price but the victims are the producers who have to throw away perfectly good food," Mr Broad said.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said in most cases, consumers didn't get an opportunity to buy the produce.

"Often the big two supermarkets only put out the most shiny and polished produce but fruiterers put out slightly older fruit or vegetables wrapped in cling wrap and it will be snapped up," he said.

"Many consumers would be happy to pay less for slightly blemished fruit so it is a real pity that it is juiced or thrown out, especially at a time when so much fuss is being made of food prices."

Vegetable Growing Association of Victoria president Luis Gazzola said it wasn't worth picking imperfect food.

He said farmers were ploughing about 25 per cent of crops back into the ground.

The situation was even more frustrating because of an over-supply of almost all fruit and vegetables.

A spokesman for Coles said shoppers expected high quality produce. "It is our job as a retailer to meet those expectations," he said.

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I have to admit to having an aversion to buying blemished produce, I have noticed it more since growing our own veg. What I will eat at home is very different to what I will buy. It is really something I need to work on, it is just so automatic when picking over fruit and veg to go for the best.

i think part of why i go for unblemished stuff in the shops is because i don't know how long it's been there before i get there. i will choose tomatos with blemishes - provided that are still very firm. marks on skin on citrus fruits don't worry me - but bananas i'm very picky about - and the same with apples/pears and stone fruit. i think it's because i know the blemishes on skin of citrus doesn't impact the quality underneath, but on apples etc, it does. spuds in the shops, i look for the better/unmarked ones - but if i go direct to the spud farm, i'll buy the damaged ones that have recently been picked (and save myself a small fortune)

we grow some of the most warped looking tomatos! blemishes there don't worry me at all - but then, i KNOW how fresh it is.

my SIL used to work fresh produce for one of the two big stores - he comments on how long food sits there kinda made me realise that the "fresh" produce really isn't that fresh - and i got more and more picky...

I look for fruit with blemishes- generally, any fruit with a few little spots on it is that little bit sweeter (a tip from my dad's Sri Lankan neighbour).

I think it's a bit cheeky of Coles to say that their customers expect the best. Expect it? They have no choice when that is all Coles gives them to buy in the first place. Blemishes on fruit and vege is different to obvious bruising of the fruit/vege, where you know that the bruise means that the flesh under the skin will be no good but a lot of the other blemishes could be something as little as an imperfect colour. Like with bananas, a bruise will look diiferent to the 'blemishes' caused as the fruit ripens further. I read just the other day about bananas and how they are airbrushed to a solid yellow colour for print media so they look perfect, but how many times do you actually see a solid yellow banana in the shop? You don't.

^ I agree, Trillian. There's a difference between a 'blemish' and a bruise/rotting spot. I'm quite happy to take fruit and veg that isn't 'perfect', providing the quality of the edible bits are good... and if I plan to use the fruit/veg very soon, I'll even take stuff that I know is on its way out - if it'll get eaten before it's gone yuck, it's fine by me. I don't expect fresh produce to be 'perfect', but I do expect it to be of reasonable freshness and quality... Would I seem silly if I confess that I actually enjoy digging through crates of fruit and veg looking for odd shapes and 'unique'-looking food? I think it's funny to find a tomato that has a big knobble on one side, kwim? I'm only eating it, not presenting it in an art gallery, so I don't worry much about what it looks like provided it's safe to eat :)

I used to work for one of the "big two" supermarkets, and honestly, the amount of time as a shopper, I found mouldy produce made me feel too sick to shop at my own store! Whenever possible I will try to purchase from markets or our fantastic local continental shop.

There is so much pressure on the limited staff at these big grocery stores to get their produce out that they just don't look at what is already out (ie mouldy or rotting produce)

I also used to work for one of the big two back in the day, and I avoid buying their meat at all costs because it is rank, and whenever possible we get our fruit and vegies from the greengrocer.

I don't mind blemishes - in fact my main criteria are freshness - you know really fresh fruit and veggie has that bursting-at-the-seams with goodness feel to it (something to do with water content I think) and SMELL. Yep I'm the lady who sniffs all the produce when selecting it LOL. That's why I'm happy to buy from markets etc. And yep I buy the bargain stuff at the greengrocers too and use it quickly. Often it's very fresh anyway.