Whole Foods is doing something it's never done before with 'ugly' food
The company is trying to reduce food waste by giving customers the option to buy bruised, discolored, and misshapen fruits and vegetables - the type of produce that supermarkets typically reject - at a reduced price, NPR reports.
Whole Foods is sourcing the "ugly" food through a partnership with Imperfect Produce, a company that delivers cosmetically-challenged fruits and vegetables to consumers.
Whole Foods is testing the program at select stores in Northern California.
"We are still in the very early stages of the conversation," a Whole Foods spokesperson told NPR. "We continue to explore new ways to move toward zero waste."
Supermarkets tend to reject ugly foods, contributing to more than 133 billion pounds of food waste in the US every year.
Roughly 31% of food goes uneaten in the US, yet one in six Americans faces hunger, according to the USDA.
The program could help Whole Foods' effort to banish its "whole paycheck" image, by giving customers a cheaper way to shop for produce at the store.