The Ugly Duck Story
our Why & How
A bit over 4 years ago, we decided it was time we join the fight against wasted fresh produce, drawing from a heritage of family jam-makers to create unique and delicious solutions to the food waste problem.
In 2017, 795,000 tonnes of fruit produced in Australia was rejected at farm level. Globally, almost half of all fruit and vegetables produced are wasted[1]. Approximately 8% of greenhouse gases heating the planet are caused by food waste[2] – in Australia alone, over 5 million tonnes of food ends up as landfill every year.
Why so much waste?
Most retailers reject any fruit or vegetable that are non-standard size, shape or colour. Large commercial growers and small organic farmers alike often face a huge problem selling their not-to-standard fruit and vegetables. Due to the short shelf life of fresh produce, a lot of fresh food ends up in landfill.
In order to prevent this unnecessary wastage, Ugly Duck comes to the rescue!
At Ugly Duck Fine Foods, we believe that food should not be wasted and we therefore source our fresh ingredients farm direct, gathering up their imperfect and surplus produce. To us, the taste and freshness of our ingredients are the only qualities that matter, odd shapes and sizes don’t.
So, what do we do with the food we rescue?
We create and craft a distinctive range of fruit spreads, chutney, relishes and fruit pastes – many of which have won prestiges awards for quality and taste.
Our products are cooked from scratch in small batches – we don’t add any nasties, no preservatives, no artificial colours or flavours. All of our preserves are vegan friendly and naturally gluten free.