Sprouts Farmers Market Launches Rescued Organic Produce Program; Nick Konat and Mindy VanVleck Comment

Wednesday, Jan. 25th, 2023

by Peggy Packer

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PHOENIX, AZ - There’s nothing like a dynamic retail strategy that both supports local farmers and minimizes food waste. Sprouts Farmers Market recently launched its Rescued Organics program across all 130 California stores, bringing imperfect organic produce that would typically be discarded to market.

“Five billion meals worth of edible food are left on farms each year, and the Sprouts Rescued Organics program is designed to help address that problem,” said Nick Konat, President and Chief Operating Officer of Sprouts. “This program allows our customers to partner with us to reduce food waste by taking home delicious, high-quality organic fruits and vegetables that may look a little different but are perfectly good, keeping so-called ‘imperfect’ produce out of the landfills.”

The program enables Sprouts to offer Rescued Organic produce, which would normally be discarded due to imperfections that do not affect quality, to consumers at its California stores. While limiting the amount of produce that is wasted based on exterior imperfections, the program also makes organic produce more accessible as it is offered at a reduced price.

With its recently launched Rescued Organics program, Sprouts Farmers Market is bringing imperfect organic produce that would typically be discarded to all 130 of its California stores

In addition to reducing food waste, the Rescued Organics program will support Sprouts’ farmer partners, a press release explained, as farmers’ inability to sell imperfect produce makes operations less profitable and more difficult to operate.

The Rescued Organics program is launching with 12 different varieties of local produce, including potatoes, onions, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, pears, carrots, kiwifruit, and bell peppers.

“We are happy to be involved with Sprouts’ Rescued Organics program because too much perfectly good produce goes to waste, solely due to appearance, and contributes to our growing environmental and landfill problems,” commented Mindy VanVleck, Director of Sales at Peri & Sons Farms. “Sprouts’ Rescued Organics program also allows Peri & Sons Farms to more efficiently fill our produce trucks which helps the success of our local farm and lessen our overall carbon footprint for delivery of goods.”