Retailing Strategies of Imperfect Produce and the Battle Against Food Waste.

This article investigates optimal retailing strategies for imperfect produce—fruits and vegetables that are edible but cosmetically flawed—and their implications for food waste reduction. It analyzes three common retailer approaches: discarding imperfect produce, bunching imperfect with perfect produce in a single package, and differentiating by selling them separately at different prices. Using analytical models that incorporate consumer preferences and quality perceptions, the study identifies market conditions favoring each strategy and reveals that widely advocated policy interventions, such as consumer education and relaxing tolerance limits on imperfect produce, may unintentionally increase food waste due to effects like sales cannibalization and shifting waste from farms to retailers. Extensions considering upcycling imperfect produce, mixed retailing strategies, and full-shelf ordering policies confirm the robustness of these findings. The research offers actionable insights for retailers and policymakers, emphasizing the complexity of managing imperfect produce and cautioning against simplistic solutions to food waste.