Wonky and surplus food brand fruit box launches new

Launched on 1st August, Earth & Wheat’s 5kg Variety Fruit Box includes variations of ultra-fresh fruit such as apples, pears, oranges, satsumas, melons, passionfruit, kiwi, mangos, and nectarines.

The brand’s move into fruit was “the next logical step” according to its founder James Eid as it is one of the most wasted food items on the planet with millions of pieces of perfectly good fruit dumped in the bin every day.

According to Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a British charity, more than half of the food waste generated by UK manufacturing and retail sectors is avoidable.

The research showed that the UK wasted 1.9 million tonnes of food and drink per year – 1.1 million tonnes of which is avoidable, worth £1.9 billion. Fresh fruit and vegetables represented around 11% alone which equates to 100,000mt.

Earth & Wheat will rescue wonky and ‘good’ surplus items at the point of production from fruit producers, suppliers, and growers, from around the UK who are regularly forced to bin these items due to their odd shape, size, colour or cosmetic speci cations which do not meet retailers’ strict standards.

James Eid said: “Earth & Wheat continues the next part of our mission to reduce food waste as we declare war on fruit waste. Food producers are forced to bin tonnes of fruit every day so it was the next logical step for us to start rescuing this precious commodity from being unnecessarily thrown away.

“Our mission is to stop food waste in the supply chain as early as possible which means combatting waste at farm level – where so much fruit is thrown away because it is either too big or too small, too odd or strange looking. This means it is destined for one place – the bin – before it even hits the shelves. This is unacceptable; wonky and surplus fruit is perfectly delicious to eat.

Included in the programme will be the latest information on the progress of current research projects, plans for new research, and the installation of a winery tank system, a new rainwater capture system to reduce water usage in the winery. There will also be a chance to view NIAB’s underground Rhizolab. The only facility of its kind in the UK, it has been planted with a range of varieties and rootstocks to allow NIAB to investigate rootstock di erences below ground, and carry out soil/ rootstock interactions and microbiome studies. In addition there will be a tour of the new laboratory, winery and research vineyard.

“Due to variances in weather conditions, sometimes crops grow ‘wonky’; additionally, seasonality and demand will a ect surplus stock quantities – resulting in perfectly good fruit being tossed aside. It is this type of invisible waste that consumers do not see, which Earth & Wheat is ghting to reduce by redistributing it to our valued customers.”

Earth & Wheat launched in 2021 with the world’s rst ‘wonky bread’ box before introducing a ‘wonky veg’ box followed by a wide range of artisan and patisserie and plant-based bread boxes.