Utrecht is opening a supermarket for “ugly food”

24 August 2026

In Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 7 to 13 September, the No Waste Army organisation is launching the Crooked Supermarket at Utrecht Central Station to sell ugly food that would have otherwise been wasted. On the shelves, customers will find a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as pears, carrots and cucumbers, that do not meet industry and marketing standards for shape, colour, size or weight, but are perfectly good to eat.

Customers who cannot make it to Utrecht can also order a box of these imperfect foods or donate kilos of produce to the Food Bank.

Every year, 2 billion kilos of food are wasted in the Netherlands alone. No Waste Army decided to take action. They save rejected and surplus fruit and vegetables directly from farmers at a fair price. Some of the produce is processed into non-perishable products, while the rest is sold as fresh fruit and vegetables.

SAFE has participated in several initiatives and projects around food waste reduction. Currently we are involved in the EU-funded project ROSETTA (“Reducing food waste due to marketing standards through alternative market access”), which estimates the amount of food waste generated by marketing standards, develops sustainable solutions for utilising this waste, and assesses the potential benefits and drawbacks of these solutions.

More information on the initiative: No Waste Army | Fighters Against Food Waste

Find the website of ROSETTA here: Home – ROSETTA