Lots of people turn their noses up at food past its prime, but in Copenhagen, supermarket Wefood has proved so successful in selling expired food that it is actually opening a second branch.

“It’s awesome that instead of throwing things out they are choosing to sell it for money. You support a good cause,” commented Signe Skovgaard Sørensen, a student, after picking up a bottle of upscale olive oil for 20 kroner (£2.28). “Isn’t it great?” rejoined pensioner Olga Fruerlund, who held up a jar of sweets that she said she was going to give to her grandchildren for Christmas, pointing out that they “can last for a hundred years because there is sugar in them.”

In Denmark, selling expired food is legal as long as it is clearly indicated on the container or package and providing there is no imminent danger to consuming it. “We look, we smell, we feel the product and see if it’s still consumable,” said project leader Bassel Hmeida.

The food products are donated by producers, import and export companies and local supermarkets, and collected by Wefood staff, all of whom are volunteers. All the store’s proceeds go to charity. Food waste has become a much-discussed topic in recent years, with initiatives such as a French ban on the destruction of unsold food, to a global network of cafes which serve dishes from overdue food destined for the garbage.

With an ultimate emphasis on feeding the poor, British-based The Real Junk Food Project opened the country’s first food waste supermarket in a warehouse near Leeds in September, urging customers to “pay what they feel,” rather than specify an amount that customers had to shell out for over-the-hill food.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), almost 1.3bn tons of food are wasted every year, which is enough to sustain 1 billion people suffering from hunger globally.

Food for thought.

Source: The Guardian