Maryland Based Company Hungry Harvest Rescues Produce That Doesn't Make It To Supermarkets
LANDOVER, Md. (WJZ) -- A Maryland-based company has been working to save a lot of fruits and vegetables that never make it to the supermarket -- and it's gotten a lot more popular during the pandemic.
"We got some potatoes, some other potatoes, some apples and all of these potatoes otherwise would go to waste."
Evan Lutz has been working hard over the last seven years to try and save some of the produce that doesn't make it to our plates -- starting with a little farm stand that opened while studying at the University of Maryland after having a conversation with a farmer about food waste.
"He said he had all this surplus produce at his farm, I came out to his farm and tried out this idea to try and sell it to college students."
It grew into the company he runs today known as Hungry Harvest, which rescues and ships imperfect-looking produce.
"There nothing wrong with that produce it just doesn't mean the specific standards that grocery stores like to put on their shelves."
They've recovered over 29 million pounds of fruits and vegetables since starting in 2014 and now regularly deliver these boxes to subscribers in Baltimore, Washington and other parts of the country.
The company moved to a new much bigger warehouse in Landover after getting a lot more customers during the pandemic.
"A lot of the people were just scared to go to the grocery store, didn't want to leave their home… and we saw you know a really big increase in demand over the last year."
They also try to help out people in need and delivered some produce to those who were struggling during the pandemic
"We've partnered with Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland Medical Center to serve over 100-thousand people during the pandemic that otherwise wouldn't have access to produce."
Those interested in trying the produce, visit: https://hungryharvest.net/.
