More than a thousand tonnes of “quirky” beetroots produced on a farm in Poland, which were set to be thrown away because their curved shape did not meet retail standards, have been bought by Lidl to prevent food waste.
The farmer who grew the vegetables said they ended up curved because of faulty seeds, but the seed producer has responded by arguing that the crop had been kept in the ground for too long.
Earlier this month, Polsat News reported on the crooked beetroot crop grown by Mieczysław Miszczak, a farmer from Łęczyca in central Poland. Miszczak, who has over 20 years of experience in farming, decided to grow beetroot last year, opting to buy seeds from the Netherlands.
He invested thousands of zloty in sowing and cultivating the crop, and hoped to fulfil a contract which had been arranged with a buyer. However, the beetroots grew curvy – “like question marks” – meaning they were no longer suitable for sale.
Buraki o nietypowym kształcie nie znajdują uznania w nowoczesnym przetwórstwie. Rolnik musiał wyrzucić tysiąc ton https://t.co/dFFUvQe99v
— Produkcja i bezpieczeństwo żywności (@IZywnosci) January 5, 2021
“When two are put together, they create a pretty heart,” said Miszczak, quoted by Polsat. “I have a signed contract with the buyer, but the goods must meet standards.”
As he was unable to sell the beetroot crop, Miszczak said that he was set to lose around 150,000 zloty (€33,000). But this week Lidl Polska announced that it would buy some of the vegetables after reading reports about Miszczak’s plight in the media.
“We immediately contacted the farmer with a proposal to purchase the imperfect vegetables,” the chain said, quoted by Gazeta.pl. “We believe that customers will still use beetroot in the kitchen and in this way we will avoid wasting the beets together.”
“We undertake many activities in this area. We cooperate with the Federation of Polish Food Banks, we run our original project ‘I buy, I don’t waste’, as part of which we run up to 70% discounts on food with imminent expiry dates, but which is still valuable,” they explained.
Miszczak said he was “glad” to hear the vegetables would be purchased, according to Business Insider. He also suggested that cooperation with retail chains would be a great opportunity for small and medium-sized farms.
The beetroots will be sold at Lidl for 0.99 zloty per kilogram, a reduction on the usual price of 3-5 zloty. Beetroots are a popular staple in Poland, often used to make soups such as barszcz (borscht).
According to Miszczak, shops and processing plants only buy beetroots that fit the 3-6 cm requirements. He believes that his vegetables ended up curved because the seeds he used were faulty, telling Polsat that other farmers have experienced the same problem.
However, the seed seller, Rijk Zwaan, responded that agricultural errors were to blame. Przemysław Opioła, managing director of the Polish branch of Rijk Zwaan, told Polsat News that the beetroot was supposed to grow over a period of 100-110 days, but Miszczak had grown the crop for 160 days, meaning the vegetables were too old.
In recent years a number of retail chains have tried to reduce food waste in Poland. French chain Carrefour donated food approaching its expiration date to food banks and NGOs, reported Business Insider. Discount store Biedronka has also been donating food since 2016, and reported that they cooperated with 83 public benefit organisations, providing food from over half of their stores, in 2019.
Last year, the Danish application “Too Good To Go”, which advertises food that would otherwise be wasted but can be bought at discount prices, was also launched in Poland.
Main image credit: “Interwencja” on Polsat News (screenshot)
Juliette Bretan is a freelance journalist covering Polish and Eastern European current affairs and culture. Her work has featured on the BBC World Service, and in CityMetric, The Independent, Ozy, New Eastern Europe and Culture.pl.
