Food waste is a critical problem for many countries. Food producers and groceries often discard imperfect foods or food by-products that still contain nutritional value. To address this problem, some food manufacturers have turned to upcycling, that is, to convert otherwise discarded ingredients into new food products (e.g., cacao fruit pulp into crunch bites). Consumers’ acceptance of sustainable products is generally lower than that of conventional products due to quality concerns. We speculate that for upcycled food products, consumers’ perception of product quality may vary when different percentages of imperfect ingredients are integrated into the products. Drawing from schema congruity theory, this research examines how the usage of imperfect ingredients can impact the perceived quality of upcycled food products. The implications for marketing upcycled foods are discussed.

• Lei Li(Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada)
• Yalda Fadaeiresketi(Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada)
• Ernest Kwan(Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada)
• Irene R. R. Lu(Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada)