3.2.1. Removal and Registration of Bad Produce

Frequent removal of bad produce was an important part of the work routines to reduce waste, since it minimised the risk of bad produce contaminating other produce. As a daily duty before opening, the employees always made a waste round in the morning. The employees controlled the quality of the fruits and vegetables and removed those that did not meet the quality criteria. When they removed bad produce from the shelf, they asked themselves, "Would I buy this myself?" If the answer was "No", the produce was removed. Minor details in the assessment differed; however, the differences among colleagues were considered to be an advantage, since customers also have different requirements. Information about the food waste, such as type, weight or amount, was fed into a small hand device, which later was connected to a computer and the database on food waste kept by the store. Only the regular employees did waste registrations in order to minimise mistakes. The registered information was used for internal waste targets and waste figures were reported at weekly internal meetings.
