GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – If you’re looking for fresh food at discounted prices in the Upstate, there’s now an app for it thanks to a new partnership aimed at helping the hungry.

“These produce boxes are all just $5. We just upload the picture, give it a number and post it,” said Ashley Wolfe as she took photos in the produce section.

“The Flash Food app is a really great platform,” Wolfe added.

Wolfe is the store manager at Earth Fare on Pelham Road, the area’s first grocery store to partner with Flash Food, an app that reduces food waste while offering shoppers big savings.

“This gives customers the opportunity to bring truly high-quality products that would otherwise end up in the trash to their dinner table and feed their families for half the price,” Wolfe said.

Nicholas Bertram, CEO of Flash Food, said the app was designed to combat a “stupid problem”.

“When I think of the people in our society, in our cities, who are hungry and do not have enough to eat; and then I think of all the food that we throw away, even though they could have been fed several times over, then for me that is a stupid problem,” said Bertram.

The app extends the shelf life of surplus products or products whose best-before date is approaching.

“Or maybe there is a small defect. Maybe there is a hole in the apple or the stem has already broken off. It is still a good food. You should not throw it away,” Bertram added.

“Everyone is energized. We’re looking for items that we can identify a week before their expiration date,” Wolfe said.

Now the two hope that it is the buyers who want to use the app.

According to a study by Recycle Track Systems, Americans throw away about 60 million tons of food each year.

According to Flash Food, Upstate shoppers saved $545 in the first week of the partnership and kept their food out of landfills.

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