Lost vegetables, lost value: Assessment of carrot downgrading and losses at a large producer organisation

Retailers usually impose strict private quality standards on fresh fruit and vegetable products, mainly focused on cosmetic features. At the supplier level, this generates a stream of suboptimal products that cannot be sold on the fresh market. This article studies the impact of these standards on suppliers by means of a direct quantification conducted in 2023 in the carrot supply chain of an Italian Producer Organisation. 34.64% of the carrots processed in terms of mass is downgraded because of non-compliance with the standards imposed by retailers, while 12.57% is lost at the primary stage due to food safety reasons. Downgrading occurs as a result of cosmetic imperfection (33.28% of mass) or because carrots are out-of-size (66.72%). The downgraded carrots are re-processed and re-processed for industry, generating an additional loss of 15.27% of mass along the way. The economic loss linked to downgrading would account for 22.05% of potential turnover if no cosmetic quality standards were applied. By modelling a series of hypothetical scenarios, this article discusses the impact on the producer if the private quality standards imposed by retailers were more flexible. • Highlight 1 : 34.64% of carrots processed are downgraded due to private cosmetic quality standards • Highlight 2 : during re-processing of the downgraded carrots, 15.27% of mass becomes a food loss • Highlight 3 : the economic loss of downgrading is estimated as 22.05% of potential turnover