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Date Available

12-3-2018

Year of Publication

2018

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College

Agriculture, Food and Environment

Department/School/Program

Agricultural Economics

Faculty

Dr. Yuqing Zheng

Faculty

Dr. Carl Dillon

Abstract

Approximately half of all wasted food is fruits and vegetables. One major cause of food waste is abnormal aesthetics; even if it is just as delicious as its normal counterpart. Food with a non-standard appearance (hereafter called ugly food) can be expelled by the markets. To reduce such waste, ugly food campaigns, which were developed in Europe and spread throughout the world, advocate for the consumption of ugly food. To study the problem of ugly food waste, this thesis examines ugly apples, since apples are the most common, representative, and readily accessible fruit. The objective of this thesis is to suggest marketing strategies and actions to facilitate the consumption and sales of ugly apples that can be expanded to other ugly fruits and vegetables. The data used for analysis are obtained from the Rural Development Administration in Korea. The findings of the thesis indicate that younger people and lower-income households are more likely to purchase ugly apples from online markets, non-stores such as food trucks and traditional markets compared with mega-scale discount stores. When advertising ugly apples, food quality should be emphasized rather than price.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2018.437

Funding Information

Government agency called Korean Congress.

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