Why do your products cost a little extra?
The raw material itself doesn't cost much, but the handling does. Ultimately, salvaged raw materials are often more expensive than if we had bought “regular” fruit in bulk.
We have three cost drivers:
- Hand sorting. Everything must be looked through, nets of oranges must be split, bad fruit must be separated from good, berries in boxes must be sorted. The hand application is sometimes extreme.
- Flexibility. We never know when and what we will get in. We work ad hoc and have to be able to handle everything from beetroot in 1000 kg bags to small 150g boxes of strawberries. We are fast-paced and do small series, which in turn costs money.
- Logistics. The raw materials are available in all sorts of places. Wholesale warehouses, fruit ports, farms, fruit basket companies, logistics centers. We have to pick up quickly and be agile.
Where do you get your fruits and vegetables from?
We rescue fruit & vegetables from growers, wholesalers, importers, grocery chains and fruit basket companies. We have flows of rescued raw materials from both Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Are your products made from old fruits and vegetables?
No, quite the opposite! Usually it's a small percentage of a batch that's bad, but that's reason enough to throw everything away. Even the perfect stuff. We sort out everything that's not good and make good drinks from everything that's really nice.
Fun fact: the quality of the fruit we receive is often better than the fruit traditionally used in the food industry. We receive a lot of fruit that is actually intended to be sold in stores. That is, 1st class fruit.
How much fruit do you save?
In 2024, we saved 560 tons of fruit & vegetables.
Why don't you just use salvaged fruit?
Waste is complex and fluctuates. Sometimes there is not enough salvaged fruit, then we can buy in "regular fruit" if needed.
Our goal is to save as much as possible. If we buy more than we save, we have no reason to exist. Read more about our saving pledge here
Where can I buy your juices?
Send an email to hej@rscued.se and tell us where you live and we will help you!
Why do your juices taste different from time to time?
It depends on what needs to be saved for the moment! It all depends on the variety, season, country of origin and degree of ripeness. Luckily, we love variety!
Are your drinks pasteurized?
Yes!
How can your drinks last so long?
Pasteurization is key! We heat all drinks during production to make them last longer, which helps reduce food waste in our own ranks.
Are your drinks vegan, lactose-free and gluten-free?
100%
Why don't you print on each product how many% are salvaged fruit?
Given that waste fluctuates and we measure our saving level over the entire year, we do not print the exact % on the label.
If you have too little salvaged fruit in a product, what do you do?
Step one is to have our sourcing team look for new flows and salvage channels. If there is not enough waste, then we either need to reduce sales of the product in question or remove it from the range. If we get there, well, then we have succeeded in a way. That means nothing more is thrown away.
What is the difference between salvaged fruit and industrial fruit/2nd grade (regular fruit)?
2nd grade fruit or industrial fruit is the quality level that all food companies in the world use for their production. This can be purchased in bulk, in the desired dimensions and specifications.
The fruit may not have the right specifications to be sold in stores, but just because it is called 2nd grade or industrial fruit, it does not automatically risk being thrown away. 2nd grade and industrial fruit is a business that growers, wholesalers and traders make money from and it is sold on a developed world market.
When researchers talk about 40% of everything grown being thrown away, they are not talking about second-class and industrial fruit. Second-class and industrial fruit can also be at risk of being thrown away, but then something has happened that makes the risk exist. The grading itself does not save the fruit and has nothing to do with reducing food waste.
Salvaged raw materials are not donated or sold for the purpose of making money, instead it is about minimizing losses, saving resources and avoiding additional costs for destruction.
To avoid second-class fruit and industrial fruit being confused with the concept of rescued fruit, one can simply say that rescued raw materials must be free/or at the cost of a symbolic sum and otherwise risk being thrown away.
Why is it important to understand the difference? As food waste becomes trendy, more people want to join the game. We encourage that, but it is important that we define waste correctly and make it clear which products actually contribute to reducing waste. 40% of everything grown in the world is thrown away. Let's focus on reducing that forty percent, not redefining the other sixty percent and doing the planet a disservice.