For most people, it's pretty normal to find a few moldy pieces of fruit or vegetables hiding at the bottom of the bag, but when the entire container is visibly rotten while sitting on the grocery store shelf, you know there's a problem.
One TikToker revealed that at a popular grocery chain, almost all the green beans in the produce section were spoiled.
What's happening?
In the video posted by Carlimarie888 (@carliemarie888), it appears that Publix didn't inspect the quality of the green beans they were stocking closely. "Publix, this is your organic section," the video creator wrote in text overlaid on the video, with an annoyed emoji to highlight the inconvenience.
@carlimarie888 @Publix I'm gonna need you to work on that. And donate this sht to an animal sanctuary 🤦🏼♀️ stop throwing food away #publix #southflorida #organic ♬ eww brother what is that - z'm
Dozens of bags of brown-spotted organic green beans were on display, being sold for nearly $5 a bag.
"I'm gonna need you to work on that. And donate this s*** to an animal sanctuary. Stop throwing food away," Carli said.
"Publix produce has been going downhill for a while," one user commented. "Either it's bad storage and/or refrigeration, or they're just getting bad products altogether."
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"I have worked at Publix for years. They get the produce that is about to go bad for a cheaper option than selling it for more at the store," the employee shared. "Almost all produce we get is usually all about to go bad or all went bad, mostly always."
"Publix quality has really declined. Expired dairy on shelves, 2-3 months old sometimes," another shopper said.
Why is food waste concerning?
Since it's likely that the majority of customers will not want to buy already spoiled green beans, the store will have to throw them away. When grocery stores throw away unsold food, that means they must raise prices to offset their losses, making it harder for customers to afford healthy items.
Many stores try to donate unsold food to charities if it's still deemed safe to eat, but unfortunately in this case, that's not an option. If the food waste is not composted, it will end up in landfills, where it releases potent gases such as methane as it decomposes.
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Always 👍 According to Feeding America, nearly 40% of all food in the United States is unsold or uneaten, which amounts to roughly 92 billion pounds of wasted food each year. Meanwhile, around 47 million people, including 1 in 5 children, face food insecurity. While households are the largest source of food waste, according to BioCycle, grocery stores contribute significantly to the issue. The food waste nonprofit ReFED reported that in 2023, U.S. grocers generated nearly 5 million tons of excess food, nearly 35% of which was sent to landfills or burned as waste. Much of the rest was either donated or composted.
Is Publix doing anything about this?
According to the company's website, Publix launched its food donation program, called Good Together, in 2009 and has donated more than 1 billion pounds of food since its inception. It partners with Feeding America to help with these efforts, distributing perishable produce, baked goods, meats, and dairy that are still edible to food banks and other charities.
It also diverts food waste from landfills by transforming byproducts from its manufacturing facilities — such as whey from yogurt and cottage cheese from the dairy plant — into animal feed for local farmers. It also processes scraps from the bakery into animal feed. In 2024, the company successfully diverted nearly 60 million pounds of food waste using these methods.
What else is being done about food waste?
When food is deemed safe for consumption, some grocers, including Trader Joe's and Kroger, have donated or given away thousands of pounds of food when their freezers malfunctioned during a thunderstorm-induced power outage.
If you have extra food at home, you can always try composting to not only benefit the planet but also enjoy free fertilizer for your garden.
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