Photo/Illutration Bent and irregular-size okra from Okinawa Prefecture (Provided by Oisix Ra Daichi Inc.)

Vegetables and fruits often get damaged or misshapen due to intense heat and torrential rain in Japan. Though just as tasty as the regular produce, they are often excluded from supermarket shelves.

However, food delivery and online sales companies are now selling these products for direct shipment to people’s homes.

The companies’ offerings are proving popular as the imperfect produce are cheaper than more standard fare, leading to less food waste.

Oisix Ra Daichi Inc., a major food delivery company, launched a new service in August selling through its website deformed vegetables such as misshapen okra due to prolonged rain from Okinawa Prefecture, cucumbers bent from high temperatures in Nagano Prefecture and pumpkins that grew quickly and enlarged due to a heat wave in Ibaraki Prefecture.

“The long scorching summer heat this year has affected a lot of agricultural produce,” an Oisix public relations official said. “Buying these products can reduce food waste.”

Some products are much cheaper than those sold at supermarkets.

Customers need to register to use the service and more than 19,000 people signed up in the three weeks since it was launched.

“Users are highly interested in actions that contribute to society,” the official said. “The number of subscribers is more than expected.”

Since deliveries are irregular, members are notified when the arrival date of imperfect fresh produce is scheduled.

Oisix believes in the strength of its delivery business, which has strong connections with producers, leading to timely sales.

Cookpad, the leading recipe-sharing service, also began a new project to deliver off-spec produce directly from farmers at cheaper prices on its online shopping site.

The service is limited to the Tokyo metropolitan area due to delivery issues, but around 300 such products are sold each month.

The cost is appealing, such as peaches from Yamanashi Prefecture being sold at less than one-third of the standard selling price.

About 2,000 ears of corn from Saitama Prefecture, which were damaged by hail in June, were sold out in just four days.

Such products are so popular that imperfect salmon, avocado and fresh oyster were ranked in the Top 10 Hall of Fame list for the first half of the year, which received high marks from customers.

Tabechoku, an online site where people can buy fresh food directly from producers, has been selling damaged produce since April 2021.

It also started selling fish that were discarded due to low catches in April this year.

“We have good package deals. Our service supports producers, and we feel consumers are becoming more understanding,” a Tabechoku employee said.

Consumers’ high levels of interest are encouraging companies to continue.

A survey of 5,000 people conducted by the Consumer Affairs Agency in March showed 48 percent of them knew about off-spec agricultural and food products.

Of these, 73.1 percent said they would buy such products even if they were deformed or looked bad as long as the taste was the same as standardized products.

Of respondents who said they didn’t know about off-spec products, 23.6 percent said they would purchase such products.

The survey indicated those who know about imperfect products are more likely to buy them.

“Awareness of such products is growing partly due to the spread of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) concept. We’d also like producers to realize that even off-spec products can be sold,” the employee said.

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