What are out-of-spec vegetables? How much arises, and how far can they be used in processing

The vegetables lined up at supermarkets are all uniform in size and shape. Vegetables that fall outside that are "non-standard vegetables."

However, figures like "tens of thousands of tons of non-standard vegetables are discarded every year," when you trace their source, often use Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries statistics in a sense other than intended. In this article, we go to the figures the government itself publishes and sort out how far they are solid fact and from where they become conjecture. On that basis, we write from the standpoint of a party that takes on drying processing in Kyoto about what becomes a bottleneck, on both the growing-region and processing sides, when non-standard vegetables are used as raw material for drying and grinding.

Non-standard vegetables are vegetables that did not meet the shipping standards set by the growing region

There is no definition of non-standard vegetables by law or national standard. Growing regions and shipping bodies each set their own shipping standards, and those that fall outside them are called non-standard vegetables.

The national standard was abolished in 2002, and today's standards are set by the growing regions

During the period of high economic growth, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries progressively set standard shipping grades for major vegetables. Standardizing the shape and quality of what was shipped made the mass distribution of vegetables possible.

Afterward, as consumer needs diversified and growing-region standards became more fragmented through competition among regions, it was judged that there was little significance in the government setting a uniform nationwide standard, and the standard shipping grades were abolished in 2002 (Heisei 14). Current shipping standards are set independently by each growing region, taking into account the needs of users and consumers (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Why not review your produce shipping standards?").

Even for cucumbers of the same shape, it can happen that they are within standard in region A and non-standard in region B. Non-standard vegetables are not a nationwide common category; the line is drawn differently by growing region.

The reasons for falling outside standard divide into size, shape, color, and blemishes

• Size: does not match the boxing unit. Both those too large and those too small fall outside
• Shape: bending, forked roots, cracking
• Color: uneven coloring, sunburn
• Blemishes: scuffing at harvest, insect damage, leaf chafing from wind

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has produced a pamphlet encouraging a review of standards, noting that the fragmentation of shipping standards increases labor not only in sorting but through harvesting, preparation, bagging, inventory management, and transport arrangements, and that in some growing regions this has become a factor in labor shortages. Non-standard vegetables arise less from a problem on the vegetables' side than, in part, from the design of sorting and shipping work.

"Non-standard" and "non-standard vegetables" refer to different things

In searches, "what is non-standard" and "what are non-standard vegetables" get mixed up, but the former is a general term that also includes industrial products and refers to goods in general that do not meet a set standard. The meaning of the word itself is explained in the glossary entry non-standard. This article is a discussion limited to vegetables.

How much in non-standard vegetables is generated per year

The difference between harvest volume and shipment volume is 1,518,000 tons (Reiwa 6 crop year)

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Reiwa 6 Crop Year Vegetable Production and Shipment Statistics" (confirmed report), the total harvest volume of vegetables was 12,068,000 tons and the shipment volume was 10,550,000 tons. The difference is 1,518,000 tons, equivalent to about 12.6% of the harvest volume.

The difference has narrowed by 315,000 tons over six years. Because the harvest volume itself is falling, the share has also dropped from 13.7% to 12.6%.

This difference is not the "amount discarded"

You sometimes see it written that "30% of the harvest is discarded" or that "the difference between harvest volume and shipment volume is the amount of non-standard vegetables discarded," but when you go to the statistical definitions, it cannot be read that way.

In the same statistics' explanation of terms, harvest volume is defined as "the weight of what was harvested that meets the standard for distribution as fresh or processing use." Shipment volume is "the quantity of the harvest volume sold for fresh, processing, or commercial use, with the weight consumed by the producer themselves, the weight of produce given as gifts, and the weight sold for seed or feed use subtracted."

What accumulates in the 1,518,000-ton difference is the following.

• The portion consumed by producers themselves
• The portion given as gifts
• The portion sold for seed or feed use
• Growing-region disposal through supply-demand adjustment projects (included in harvest volume but not in shipment volume)

Furthermore, the portion left in the field that did not meet the distribution standard in the first place is not even included in the harvest volume. Replacing this difference directly with "the amount of non-standard vegetables discarded" changes its meaning.

The breakdown of the 4.61 million tons of food loss has no category for what was generated in the field

The Reiwa 6 fiscal year food loss generation estimate published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of the Environment on June 30, 2026 was 4.61 million tons. The breakdown is 2.37 million tons from businesses and 2.24 million tons from households. The business breakdown is 1.10 million tons from food manufacturing, 90,000 tons from food wholesale, 480,000 tons from food retail, and 700,000 tons from food service.

The business figures are tallied based on reports from operators under the Food Recycling Act, and these four categories do not include the agricultural production stage. Non-standard vegetables generated in the field lie outside the 4.61 million tons. Writing that "non-standard vegetables are also part of the 4.61 million tons of food loss" would be an error.

The connection between non-standard vegetables and food loss is The relationship between off-spec vegetables and food loss for more.

Where are the vegetables that did not meet the shipping standard going now

Self-consumption, free gifting, processing use, and feed/fertilizer use are the main destinations

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries explains that, of the vegetables that do not meet the shipping standard, those of usable quality are "after harvest, directed to self-consumption, free gifting, processing use, and other food uses, and much is also utilized as non-food uses such as feed and fertilizer." Not all of it is discarded.

In the same explanation, it is also written that such vegetables "are difficult to supply on a fixed-schedule, fixed-quantity basis, and shipping and transport also cost money," so cases of them being distributed in the market are few. Rather than there being no buyers, it is closer to the reality to write that they do not match the conditions buyers require.

There is an upper limit to the volume that farm stands and direct-from-producer e-commerce can sell through

Roadside stations and farm stands are a representative outlet for non-standard vegetables, but the volume they can sell is determined by the floor space available for display and the number of visitors. Direct-from-producer e-commerce is also governed by whether you can secure the volume you can ship when an order comes in. It is difficult to fully absorb, through daily retail, what comes out all at once at the peak of harvest.

The fact that pricing of "non-standard, therefore cheap" has taken hold is, from the growing region's point of view, another burden. Because the production cost is no different from standard goods, the more you discount and sell in volume, the thinner your take-home becomes.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is soliciting case examples and holding symposiums

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries solicits and publishes on its website case examples of selling and utilizing vegetables that do not meet the shipping standard under nicknames such as "mottainai vegetables." In 2025 it held a Non-Standard Produce Symposium, which, centered on food manufacturers, drew more than 300 participants in person and online combined.

Published cases include sweet potatoes that didn't meet shipping standards turned into potato syrup with koji, off-spec eggplants sold in large-volume bags, and carrots packed from A-grade down to C-grade with their sizes mixed in to skip the sorting work altogether. What they share is that, rather than selling off-spec produce cheaply, they change either the processing or the way it's sold.

Conditions for using off-spec vegetables as a processing raw material

Supply that isn't steady in timing or quantity is the first wall for the processing side

When a food manufacturer adopts off-spec vegetables as a raw material, the problem that comes up before price is unstable supply. To keep selling a product continuously, you need a set quantity at a set time. With off-spec vegetables, neither the volume nor the timing of what turns up can be predicted.

There are two ways to get over this wall. One is to take in whatever turns up each time, dry it, and turn it into stock that can be held at room temperature. The other is to design the product so it can be made with whatever raw material comes in. A product built around blending absorbs fluctuations in raw material better than one made from a single ingredient.

Drying doesn't mind the shape, but the result changes with the ingredient

Because dry processing cuts the raw material before drying it, bends, forked roots, and variation in size don't affect the result. Vegetables that have grown too large actually have more edible part and give a better yield.

On the other hand, the properties of the ingredient can bring the process to a halt. The following differences show up on our own production floor.

• High-sugar items (grapes, persimmons, etc.) can be dried but cannot be made into powder. Stickiness remains and they won't go through the grinder
• Items with strong fibers (such as mugwort) don't turn to powder even when ground, and come out with a fuzzy, frayed finish
• Leafy vegetables with high water content lose a large share of their weight after drying, so the amount of fresh raw material needed swells beyond expectations

More than whether an item is off-spec, it's the nature of the ingredient itself that decides the result.

What drying and grinding can and cannot do

Based in Kyoto, Agriture handles low-temperature drying and hot-air drying of domestically grown vegetables, grinding (down to the equivalent of 100 mesh), blending, and small-pack filling on a contract basis. Wholesale of commercial raw materials starts from 100g.

What we cannot handle is also clear. We don't take on freeze-drying, roasting, retort, or vegetable chips. Making use of off-spec vegetables tends to call chips to mind, but our equipment can't make them.

The best-before date for dried products is about 6 months from the shipping date. It's sometimes written that "drying makes things last over a year," but the period that can be guaranteed as a product changes with the packaging format and storage conditions.

The uses of powder are Commercial vegetable powder, and the scope of contract processing is OEM dried contract processing service explained in detail at.

The flow of turning off-spec vegetables into a product

Have the raw material sent fresh, and do everything from washing in-house

Raw material received from the growing region can be sent fresh. We handle washing and preparation in-house, then proceed in the order of drying and, as needed, grinding. Compared with drying it at the growing region before sending, being able to decide the process after seeing the state it arrives in gives a more stable result.

What a prototype settles is the cut thickness and drying conditions, more than the taste

Even for the same vegetable, water content and fiber strength differ by variety and harvest season. The purpose of a prototype is to settle the cut thickness and the drying temperature and time that suit that ingredient. Proceed to full production without settling this, and the color and texture change from lot to lot.

How to design price-setting with the growing region

Beat down the price of off-spec vegetables and the raw material stops coming in the following year. Production costs are no different from standard produce, and the effort to grow it is the same. To secure raw material continuously, price-setting based on the price that growing region usually ships at lasts longer in the end.

The way to turn unused resources into a business is A new business using unused resources summarized at. The actual initiatives are Case studies.

Summary

• Off-spec vegetables are vegetables that didn't meet the shipping standards set by the growing region. The national standard shipping specifications were abolished in 2002, and today's standards differ by growing region
• For the 2024 crop year, the difference between harvest volume and shipment volume was 1,518,000 tons, about 12.6% of harvest volume. But this difference is the total of home consumption, gifts, and sales for seed and feed use, not the amount discarded
• The breakdown of the 4.61 million tons of food loss has no category for the agricultural production stage, so what comes out of the field is not included
• When used as a processing raw material, unstable supply becomes a problem before price does
• Drying doesn't mind the shape, but the result changes with the sugar content and fiber properties

FAQ

Q　Is there a national standard for off-spec vegetables?

A　No. The national standard shipping specifications were abolished in 2002 (Heisei 14), and today the shipping standards are set by each growing region. Even vegetables of the same shape are split into in-spec and off-spec depending on the growing region.

Q　How much off-spec vegetable arises in a year?

A　There is no official statistic that tallies the volume generated itself. The figure often cited is the 1,518,000-ton difference between the 12,068,000 tons of harvest volume and the 10,550,000 tons of shipment volume in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "2024 Crop Year Vegetable Production and Shipment Statistics," but this difference includes producers' home consumption, gifts, and sales for seed and feed use. It is a separate figure from the amount of off-spec vegetables discarded.

Q　Are off-spec vegetables counted as food loss?

A　The breakdown of the food loss figure published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of the Environment (an estimated 4.61 million tons for fiscal 2024) is food manufacturing, food wholesale, food retail, foodservice, and households; there is no category for the agricultural production stage. What arises in the field is not included in this 4.61 million tons.

Q　If off-spec vegetables are put through dry processing, does the result differ from standard produce?

A　Because they are cut before drying, variation in shape and size doesn't affect the result. What determines the result is the variety, harvest season, water content, and fiber strength.

Q　Will you take on contract work even in small quantities?

A　Wholesale of commercial raw materials starts from 100g. For contract processing, conditions change with the state of the raw material and the processing involved, so please let us know the ingredient and the quantity you have in mind.

Q　Can you make vegetable chips?

A　We don't handle them. We also don't take on freeze-drying, roasting, or retort. Our scope is drying (low-temperature and hot-air), grinding, blending, and small-pack filling.

Recommended reading

• The relationship between off-spec vegetables and food loss
• Agriture's sustainable initiatives
• Processing and commercialization support for off-spec vegetables
• Commercial dried vegetables

We have materials available to help you understand dried processing OEM

Agriture OEM, flexibly handling everything from small lots to large lots

• OEM available from small lots of 10 kg
• Drying of brought-in raw materials also possible
• Support from processing to filling in one place

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