At the Food Tek Pack 2025 conference – held alongside the Intrapack 2025 exhibition – the discussion on ‘Sustainable Food Economy: Farm to Thali’ found powerful momentum with the keynote by Aditi Jhala, founder and CEO of The Misfits. Her address brought clarity, urgency, and hope to one of the biggest contradictions of our food system: abundant waste on one side and deep hunger on the other.
Taking the stage, Jhala began by grounding the audience in the stark reality. “Nearly one-third of all food produced globally is wasted,” she said, adding that if food waste were a country, “it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.” She reminded the audience that the resources embedded in wasted food – land, water, fertilizers, energy, and labour – add up to a colossal environmental burden. Globally, food waste accounts for 8–10% of emissions, making it one of the largest untapped levers for climate action.
India’s own numbers, she pointed out, remain troubling. The country wastes close to 68.8 million tonnes of food every year – valued at nearly USD 13 billion – while millions go hungry. “This contradiction shows how urgently we need new solutions,” she said.
Why upcycling matters
Food loss in India and Southeast Asia largely occurs before food even reaches consumers – during harvesting, storage, transportation, and retail. Fruits and vegetables alone account for nearly USD 4 billion in losses. For Jhala, this is where the most effective intervention lies.
“At The Misfits, we see this not as a loss, but as a USD 13 billion opportunity to create new value, jobs, and food products,” she said.
She explained upcycling as transforming surplus, imperfect, or by-product ingredients – still completely fit for consumption – into higher-value goods. In the waste hierarchy, she noted, upcycling sits just after prevention and rescue. “It keeps food at its highest and best use – feeding people, not landfills.”
Upcycled ingredients are often derived from the most nutritious parts of produce – peels, stems, tops, and seeds – naturally rich in fibre and micronutrients. Moreover, the approach reduces the need for additives and preservatives. Even packaging, Jhala said, can be derived from agricultural residues such as paddy straw, banana fibre, bagasse, and fruit waste, helping reduce dependence on plastic and supporting farm-level circularity.
The Misfits approach
The Misfits works directly with a small network of organic farmers, procuring produce that is otherwise rejected solely due to cosmetic imperfections. Jhala illustrated this with examples that often surprise consumers.
She showed onions that grow in clusters of three – perfectly edible yet discarded for not looking “beautiful”. The Misfits turns these into red onion crisps infused with ashwagandha. Carrot tops, usually chopped off and thrown away or used as fodder, become a vibrant pesto blended with coriander and moringa. Misshapen pumpkins – often rejected by retailers – are transformed into chocolate spreads and bite-sized brownie treats.
However, public perception remains a challenge. “Many people still think we pick food from the garbage and sell it,” she said, acknowledging the communication hurdles the brand faces. Operationally too, working with varied shapes, sizes, and textures makes automation complex.
A mission rooted in impact
Despite being just a year and a half old, The Misfits has already diverted more than 300 kg of vegetables from landfills. This, Jhala explained, is equivalent to saving over 30,000 litres of water – an amount typically consumed in growing those crops. By upcycling this produce, the company has prevented approximately 120 kg of greenhouse gas emissions and contributed more than 190 meals’ worth of food back into the system.
“Our mission is simple but deeply urgent,” she said. “We want to reduce greenhouse gases, increase farmers’ income, and reduce food insecurity. Every kilo saved is a step toward a more circular and compassionate food system.”
