[throwaway_bob]

I lived on henry street for a while, and I can't say that I know anything about the back end of the distribution network, but I can say this article is missing a lot of things about the front end. The produce is cheaper than a standard western store, but the quality is much more varied. Moreover, the market (in the economic sense) seems really efficient. If you see something cheap in Manhattan chinatown in every store, it might be a really good deal, and just that thing is in season or a lot of it was just delivered. But if something is cheap in just one store, it is probably in bad shape. Stores are willing to sell produce that simply wouldn't be sold in ordinary western stores; and do things I think wouldn't be allowed elsewhere. For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets. Moreover, the stores don't bother to keep clean at all, you can smell them from a block away. If you like food shopping, and you pay attention, its great, but if you want to just get your food, it is a lot of work. I think most americans do not want this kind of tradeoff.

[mc32]

They definitely missed the point about ugly fruit and vegetables. From speaking to some of the vendors of cheaper fruits and veggies at farmer's markets, some of them (but not all) buy the second dibs (what the supermarkets and their other obligations don't buy) as well as more irregular fruit and produce.

Now, of course there is a growing ugly fruit and vegetable movement[1]. It's becoming more mainstream and even Whole Foods is buying in[2]. There is an effort in Boston to provide good affordable ugly fruit and vegetables to underserved communities.

[1]http://www.eatingwell.com/food_news_origins/love_ugly_fruits...

[2]http://www.eater.com/2016/3/8/11178270/whole-foods-ugly-prod...

[Scoundreller]

> some of them (but not all) buy the second dibs (what the supermarkets and their other obligations don't buy) as well as more irregular fruit and produce.

On top of that, the wholesalers know that these buyers will never pay a premium price, so they may get better deals on 1st tier items than mainstream supermarkets when the wholesaler really wants to sell.

[NicoJuicy]

In france it's already since 2014 ( the ugly fruit bowl) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2693000/Forge...

[DanBC]

Here are two such schemes, and a BBC radio programme (available as MP3 download):

http://www.frutafeia.pt/en

http://www.uglyfruits.eu/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05mpx0k

[kalleboo]

Australia too https://www.woolworths.com.au/Shop/Discover/our-brands/the-o...

[amelius]

Can't restaurants just use the ugly food?

[cmapes]

Restaurants do use the ugly food, there's many grades to choose from when you're a wholesale buyer purchasing from specialty suppliers.

[rinze]

> For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets.

The financial crisis, explained with strawberries.

[patio11]

Well, to approximate a synthetic CDO squared, you'd first put all the moldy strawberries in a new basket, label it "Strawberries", send it to the rating agency where it would be rated AAA American strawberries, and then sell firms their choice of the least, middling, or most risky slices of the basket of "AAA American strawberries."

[ethbro]

You forgot about also shorting the eventual result of those re-packaged strawberries by buying options on bismuth subsalicylate.

[Scoundreller]

I'd be more worried about the molds (and their byproducts) being carcinogenic (e.g. Aflatoxins)

[praptak]

That would be gathering the moldy ones instead of tossing them. And perhaps putting them into an opaque "high risk, great price" strawberry basket.

[IanCal]

To torture an analogy further.

There are lots and lots of strawberries of various different ages in a big pile. Some will be fine for the week and others are hours away from exploding in furry mould.

Someone splits them into the newest and oldest strawberries, and attaches a higher price to the former.

Someone then buys the older ones, and splits them again into the freshest and oldest. And so on, and so on until each group of strawberries is a set of near identical ages.

Finally, a customer comes along looking for strawberries to supply Wimbledon. It's in two days!

They find the basket of the very cheapest strawberries, and when asked how long they'll last they're told "Well, some will go off, but it's not like they'll all go off at the same time! As long as you buy them assuming maybe 5% will have gone off you'll be fine". One day later and 70% of them go mouldy and the rich folks at Wimbledon are shocked at the sudden shortage of strawberries.

[steveax]

> For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets.

Having worked produce in both regular chain markets, and in "gourmet natural foods" markets, I can assure you that this is a common practice.

[ams6110]

Makes sense to me. I get moldy strawberries so often at the local supermarket that I absolutely open the container and rumage around before I buy. If they bothered to remove the moldy ones for me, I'd appreciate it.

What's the alternative? Should they be throwing away the entire container?

[steveax]

At some point in the ripening, handling the berries damages them enough that it's not worth it, but otherwise the practice is fine. At the gourmet market I worked at, pretty much all the berries were taken from the original flats they arrived in and repackaged (removing the bad berries along the way).

Pro tip for delicate berries: when you get them home, remove them from the package they came in and store them in a broad container lined with paper towels, something big enough so they can be spread out with a minimum of stacking. They'll last much longer that way.

[developer2]

Mould is not like dirt that can just be rubbed off the product. If a package of strawberries has some mouldy berries in it, then that mould has already spread to its neighbours without being visible. All they're doing is repackaging the berries that don't have any visible mould on them, and that mould will grow very quickly.

If you buy a supposedly "mould-free" bundle that was repackaged from a mouldy bundle, the entire batch is likely to rot within a day or two of purchase.

[kpil]

The mould is most likely growing because a few strawberries where damaged and the rest got strawberry juice on them.

The mould is already there, just not visible, on all strawberries, waiting for some sugar and water...

[gnu8]

They all have mold on them. It's only the ones that have mold colonies large enough to be spotted by eye that are sorted out. Does that correspond to how much mold is dangerous? Who can say?

[home_boi]

Is this common place for frozen berries or are they generally packaged before any mold can occur?

[ethbro]

To meet higher USDA grades, it seems like they must be pre-sorted to remove mold (among other things).

Example: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/frozen-strawberrie...

PS: Side note, either USDA AMS hasn't updated their site in awhile, or some "most recent" frozen berry standards date back to the 50s/60s. Which, I guess makes sense; I imagine the process hasn't changed that much.

[gbog]

Picking the good strawberries and repackaging not only should be allowed, it should be mandatory. How are we gone so far away from (agricultural) reality that such a simple and necessary task is /forbidden/ ?

[seanmcdirmid]

And this describes grocery shopping in China, not just Chinatown. I look forward to the day I can just go to a western supermarket and not have to worry about getting jipped on veggies...save so much work even if they cost a lot more money.

[JabavuAdams]

FYI "jipped" is actually spelled "gypped", which is a slur against Gypsies. I only raise this because I used to say it a lot, and was unaware of its etymology and connotations.

[khedoros]

And "Gypsies", describing the Romani people, is sometimes considered derogatory because of its negative connotations, and because it is reflective of the mistaken belief that they were itinerant Egyptians.

[MBCook]

Interesting. I'd never heard the Egyptian part before.

[afsina]

They were probably originated from India.

[seanmcdirmid]

Sorry, I had no idea where this word came from (or was spelled!). I should have just said "ripped off". In the states, the word has completely lost its original context (and more so in China).

[nommm-nommm]

Many people don't

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/30/242429836/...

>"I encounter a lot of people who tell me that they never knew the word 'gypped' had anything to do with gypsies, or that it's offensive — especially when the word is heard not read," says University of Texas at Austin professor Ian Hancock, who was born in Britain to Romani parents. "My response to them is, That's okay. You didn't know but now you do. So stop using it. It may mean nothing to you, but when we hear it, it still hurts."

[elliotec]

I'm in favor of re-spelling it as jipped, and removing the old connotation, because most people don't know that and it is a pretty common word now.

[r00fus]

Not sure it works like that - you don't clean context just by changing the spelling.

[coldtea]

You do if people also don't jump at the chance to tie it to the old concept.

[e12e]

Perhaps if you live in an area where the word "gypsy" isn't well-known - but it would be in most of Europe at least. And given the history of abuse and oppression (eg: forced sterilization, even before the nazi concentration camps) it's not really a word that should be forgotten - in the sense that forgetting history is a great way to later repeat the same mistakes, and commit similar abuse.

I don't really see how "jipped" doesn't end up pronounced as "gypped" - so the connotation remains. FWIW the Moby Thesaurus lists a long litany of synonyms along the lines of "con man" and "cheat" for the term "gypper".

[logfromblammo]

Or dig deep into English vocabulary and select a more appropriate synonym without the unwanted association: hustled, conned, swindled, scammed, deceived, ripped off, tricked, cheated, flimflammed, bamboozled, bilked, duped, hornswoggled, rooked, fleeced, burned, chiseled, snowed, fast talked, screwed, shafted, bled, suckered, stiffed, milked, gouged, overcharged... there are probably more. Some of them are shaded according to the intent of the other party and how you felt about it.

But I'm not sure any of these apply to the practice under consideration, which is selling substandard produce to people who haven't properly calibrated their expectations.

[panglott]

Semantic bleaching is common enough in word change. Words change enough over time that the actual origin of words can become very obscure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammaticalization#Semantic_bl...

[pessimizer]

Changing the spelling doesn't help. It's a pretty ugly word that I definitely used a lot as a child, and it took a while to get out of my vocabulary.

edit: I also used to say "jewed down" as a kid. There's stuff that's better just to get rid of.

edit 2: I've actually had people passionately explain to me why saying "nigger-rigged" was not a problem.

[optforfon]

The fruit in China, at least in the big cities, is pristine. Apples are individually wrapped, everything is generally impeccable. You can get cheaper beat-up fruit in some food stalls at a cheaper price if you want.

[zaroth]

You won't have to worry, you can rest assured you are absolutely getting jipped!

[hkmurakami]

This definitely happens outside of Chinatown as well. In fact there's a place at the border of Los Altos and Cupertino (right next to a Trader Joe's in fact) that deals with produce that is very close to expiration that was clearly sent over from other supermarkets. They also sell green that aren't "baby greens" -- i.e. they're grown a bit too mature and are now bitter and tougher than what the typical grocery store patron would like.

Obviously the nutritional value is the same, so the place makes for a great source for smoothie ingredients and frozen fruits to be consumed at a later date.