The new Hyvis sweet pepper and lentil soup uses sweet peppers from K Group’s central warehouse that could not be sold because of cosmetic faults such as bruising but are still excellent ingredients for soups.
‘The sweet pepper and lentil soup is an inexpensive convenience food option and by choosing it consumers are actively taking part in preventing food waste in the food production chain. The amount of discarded sweet peppers determines how much soup can be produced. It is part of the product’s nature that it is not always available because we are using ingredients that we’d rather didn’t exist,’ says Timo Jäske, Sustainability Director at Kesko’s grocery trade division.
The vegan Hyvis sweet pepper and lentil soup has been granted the Heart Symbol that indicates the product is a healthier choice within its product group: the soup contains a moderate amount of fat and a low amount of salt.
Cooperation with the suppliers is an essential part of developing new products made with waste food. The production of the new soup continues the well-functioning cooperation with Juustoportti’s Kasvisgalleria, which produces the Hyvis tomato and cheese soup that was added to the selection of K food stores in 2022. The sweet pepper and lentil soup is produced in Kuopio and has been awarded with the Key Flag that shows the product has been made in Finland.
‘We are very happy to expand our product line together with Kasvisgalleria. Nine thousand kilograms of discarded tomatoes from K Group’s central warehouse were used to make Hyvis tomato and cheese soup in 2022, and now we can find a useful purpose for the sweet peppers as well,’ says Jäske.
‘After the success with the Hyvis tomato and cheese soup, Kesko gave us a welcome challenge: what kind of product could we make with sweet peppers? Thanks to skilful product development, we found a good combination that is suitable for the vegan diet. Sustainability is important for us at Juustoportti, so we are extremely happy to have found a new, tasty life for food that would otherwise have gone to waste,’ says Niklas Keski-Kasari, Marketing Director at Juustoportti.
Halving food loss by 2030 is one of the key circular economy goals of the K Group’s grocery trade division. K Group is continuously looking for new ways to develop the management and minimisation of food waste in the entire value chain while also challenging and supporting the suppliers and customers.
Primarily, the generation of food waste is prevented with selection acquisition and forecast and material requirement planning, but products made with ingredients that would otherwise go to waste has an important role in minimising food loss. ‘It is challenging to prevent the generation of food waste entirely, and the amount of food waste cannot always be predicted. However, the amount can be minimised, and products like the Hyvis soups are essential for this purpose – they are flexibly produced whenever the waste food ingredients are available,’ says Jäske.
Hyvis sweet pepper and lentil soup is available at the K-food stores beginning from March.
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