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nafex - [NAFEX] Picture-perfect fruit on the market except for tattoo on the skin (Delaware on line)

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  • From: "Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Picture-perfect fruit on the market except for tattoo on the skin (Delaware on line)
  • Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:16:47 -0500

Title: Picture-perfect fruit on the market except for tattoo on the skin (Delaware on line)

OUR VIEW (from Delaware on line)
Picture-perfect fruit on the market except for tattoo on the skin
07/24/2005
"Do I dare to eat a peach?" asked poet T. S. Eliot, a question many Americans might ask when faced with fruit marred by those little stickers.  There may be a better way for consumers who struggle to remove the sticker before they eat their peach.

Most grocery stores have not one, but two labor-intensive stickers, on fruits and vegetables.  One was placed there by the produce distributor, often to show the country of origin, but also with coding for that specific type of produce.  Sometimes the stickers even have a public health message.  Stores add their own stickers with a code that cashiers use to price the item.  Often the codes are identical.

What's most annoying is that the stickers can't be easily removed.  Pieces of produce stick under fingernails.  The stickers themselves are tough to get off your hands. The fruit or vegetable is marred where the sticker was.  It's unappetizing to set out damaged goods in a bowl for guests.

So attention, shoppers.  The New York Times reports technology is being developed, particularly since new federal regulations will soon require all imported produce to be labeled with its country of origin.  One method is to laser tattoo the fruit itself.

The peaches, apples or whatever move on automatic belts past a laser device that burns a number on the skin.  This information can be scanned at checkout counters.  Manufacturers insist the tattoo is so shallow it doesn't hurt the fruit or cause it to spoil faster.  Like all innovations, though, some problems remain.

Whoever comes up with the perfect replacement for those stickers deserves the highest award that farmers, distributors and consumers can bestow.



  • [NAFEX] Picture-perfect fruit on the market except for tattoo on the skin (Delaware on line), Brungardt, Sam, 07/25/2005

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