Ex-grocery chief has expired food plan

BOSTON (AP) -- The former president of the Trader Joe's grocery chain has an idea for the massive quantities of food that America's supermarkets throw out every day because it is near, at, or past its sell-by date.

Doug Rauch says he can take that still-edible food and turn it in to a healthy, palatable and affordable meal to sell to Boston's low-income families.

Rauch is negotiating to open a 10,000-square-foot store in Boston's Dorchester section for his Urban Food Initiative. He got the idea while researching hunger as a fellow at Harvard University.

He tells the Boston Globe the idea is to make healthy meals available at the same prices as unhealthy fast-food meals.

To succeed he will have to overcome the perception that he's just peddling unwanted food to the poor.