Food waste is a major barrier to a sustainable society. Cleaner production is most effectively approached by amongst others avoiding waste. A lot of food waste is due to consumer perception of sub-optimality of foods, and supermarkets can offer ‘imperfect’ products to consumers at a reduced price in order to fight food waste. However, little is known about how this is perceived by consumers and whether it backfires as negative associations about the store, particularly for consumers in the global south. An online experimental survey was conducted in Uruguay to qualitatively explore consumer's associations with stores selling suboptimal food, and to quantitatively compare the associations generated by three types of sub-optimality. Findings revealed that associations were related to four main dimensions. Consumers majorly thought of which retail practices and personnel behaviour cause the sub-optimality and the relationship between consumers and company, as well as which signal the products send, and whether they consider choice. Few positive associations were mentioned. However, they emerged more often for fresh produce suboptimal in appearance, particularly when price reduced, and by deal prone consumers. Associations on relationship and signal were primarily negative and in reaction to food with package damage. Associations on choice were more frequent for products nearing expiration date. Price reduction appeared to send a mixed signal to consumers. Results suggest that retailers should improve their overall image and communicate their precise reason for offering suboptimal food, in order to avoid a negative impact on store image.

厨余是可持续发展社会的主要障碍。尤其是避免浪费，最有效地实现了清洁生产。大量的食物浪费是由于消费者对食物的次优性的认识，而超级市场可以以降低的价格为消费者提供“不完美”的产品，以对抗食物浪费。但是，人们对这种情况如何被消费者了解以及它是否会适得其反，对商店的负面影响知之甚少，尤其是对于全球南部的消费者而言。在乌拉圭进行了一项在线实验调查，以定性研究消费者与销售次优食品的商店之间的关联，并定量比较由三种次优状态产生的关联。研究发现，关联与四个主要方面有关。行为和人员行为会导致次优性以及消费者与公司之间的关系，产品发出的信号以及他们是否考虑选择。很少提到积极的联系。但是，它们的出现更多是因为新鲜产品的外观次优，尤其是在价格降低时，并且容易受到消费者的青睐。关系和信号的关联主要是消极的，并且是对包装受损的食物的反应。临近到期日期的产品，选择关联的频率更高。降价似乎向消费者发出了不同的信号。结果表明，零售商应改善整体形象，并提供提供次优食品的确切原因，以避免对商店形象造成负面影响。