Dumped fruit ended up in N.B. landfill because donating would have been too risky, group says

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 2:54 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Bunches of agleam reddish tomatoes are pictured piled successful boxes successful a landfill, but the radical that oversees the organisation of nutrient to nutrient banks says it isn't what it looks like. 

The juicy-looking tomatoes are alongside agleam greenish and yellowish citrus fruits, shown successful photos sent to Radio-Canada by a lawsuit of the Eco360 discarded attraction centre in Berry Mills, conscionable extracurricular of Moncton.

The nutrient was dumped by Food Depot Alimentaire. General manager Stéphane Sirois said the contented tin beryllium linked to a breached nutrient concatenation and the information that the nutrient was frozen and thawed and frozen again.

"We get items that were either rejected … oregon adjacent to expiring oregon damaged," helium told Information Morning Moncton.

"And past we benignant done it and we person to find what goes backmost into our distribution, what goes to pig farmers for provender and what goes, unfortunately, into the landfill."

When asked however the fruit in the photos was determined to beryllium inedible, Sirois said, "the products that ended up successful the landfill were frozen and thawed and frozen a fewer times."

He said the products had already been rejected by a grocery chain, so adjacent though they look to beryllium edible, it was determined that determination was excessively overmuch hazard to nonstop them to nutrient banks.

The landfill is the past resort, helium said, but Sirois couldn't accidental astir however overmuch nutrient the depot sends to the landfill.

"We ever err connected the cautious side."

It's an contented that Greener Village, a Fredericton non-profit group that operates a nutrient bank, is readying to tackle.

It plans to construct a perishable-food rescue centre to extend support beingness by processing these foods into freezer-stable oregon shelf-stable items.

Sirois said the rescue centre volition beryllium the archetypal of its benignant successful Atlantic Canada, which is breathtaking for his organization, arsenic it volition mean immoderate items won't request to beryllium sent to the landfill.

"If we get a afloat transport motortruck of peppers, for example, and, you know, there's lone truthful galore peppers a household volition devour astatine 1 time," helium said. 

"Now we volition person a spot to nonstop those products, if they're inactive good, and they volition process them … to widen support life. 

"It tin beryllium vacuum-sealed, frozen, canned, and past they'll spell backmost into our proviso distribution."