Hungarian pilot project - Ugly but tasty

Creating value for imperfect fruit and vegetables

The Hungarian Pilot Working Platform initiated the pilot project “Ugly but tasty” in February 2017. The main goal of the pilot is to start working on a “farm to fork” approach to food waste related activities in the fruit & vegetable sector. This chain is one of the shortest chains as processing is not part of it, thereby we can relatively easier focus on the full chain from production to consumer.

The main focus of the project is on the lower quality products, where the plan is to test possible channels for both a marketed (sale) and a non-marketed (free redistribution) basis.

Although the estimated amount of food waste is very high in the agricultural sector, there are not enough projects concentrating on the potential decrease of waste and the possible innovative solutions in the sector.

The Hungarian Food Bank Association started talks in the framework of the Hungarian PWP with the Budapest Wholesale Market to launch a project targeting primarily the activities and partners of the fruit and vegetable sector.

The Budapest Wholesale Market is the largest in the country where the product offer of the growers and wholesalers is meeting the demand of the retailers six days a week. Fresh vegetables and fruits, citrus-type fruits, mushroom, egg, honey, canned products, preserved food, sweets, refreshments can be continuously purchased through the year.

The market is open also for consumers, but the sale is done in commercial quantity units only.

Planned activities are:

• Analysis of barriers of market distribution of “imperfect” fruit & vegetable products

• Implementation of food surplus redistribution site at the BWM

• Testing of gleaning activities

• Communication activities and organisation of awareness raising events at the Budapest Wholesale Market.