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New Label Shows When Fruit Is Ripe
Dekaner writes "New Scientist has an article about a new 'smart' label developed in New Zealand changes color as fruit inside the package with it ripens. The label is designed to stop customers squeezing the fruit to tell if it is ripe enough to eat. The first packages to be tested contain pears, which need to be soft before they are eaten. If the labels prove effective with pears, the research institute in New Zealand will develop versions that work with kiwi fruit, avocados and melons."
this is actually a pretty wicked invention, but I don't always buy ripened fruit.... often i like to get slightly unripened fruit, or over ripe fruit.... so this is good for joe bloggs who wants to eat his/her fruit that day, but for people who like to span out food over a week, it lacks any real long term use.
Sure it does. Now you can pass over fruit that says it's already ripe.
Doesn't the fruit itself change color as it ripens?
Sunlit World Scheme. Weird and different.
At least for a couple more years anyway....
When I go for groceries, and the wife has asked me to pick up some sort of vegetables/fruits, this little sticker would be a blessing. Now say if my mother/grandmother were to go, i'm sure she would disregard the sticker, and squeeze the fruit regardless, because that's what they've been doing for years and years of cooking. For our 'packaged food is better food' generation, this may work, but for the older 'cook from scratch' generation, I just cant see it being a big hit.
I think this is a response to consumer complaints regarding the current practice of stickering fruit with its product code. I can't ever seem to get those stickers off without bruising the fruit.
Years ago a friend of mine was moving up from bag boy to checker at a supermarket, he had to memorize all the codes for fruits and vegtables and pass a test. Now a checker reads the code off a sticker, shifting the burden to the consumer.
I don't think the color change adds enough value to balance the annoyance of removing a sticker from every piece of fruit you buy.
Does the label also tell us when the fruit is over ripe and too squishy to eat? That's the biggest reason I squeeze produce, I'm looking for rottenness, bruises and damage. If it's not ripe enough no big deal, I'll set it on my window sill until it is ripe. But getting a squishy piece of rotten fruit I think is what most people are trying to avoid.
For the most part grocery stores don't have a problem with getting produce to market too early. More the opposite, when the produce is too old and it pains them to throw it out at a loss.
Unfortunately something tells me that stores wouldn't be very interested in a sticker that turned into a Mr. Yuck when the fruit went bad.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Not so... Food Network is popular with more than just old farts (I'm 25, was taught to cook by my Mom & Grandmother, and love to cook).
I wouldn't buy fruit or veggies without touching them. I check apples for firmness, smell carrots, sueeze and smell peppers, taste the end of celery, wiggle the stems of artichokes, etc. That's just how a smart consumer/cook buys produce.
There are always going to be smart consumers wanting to "kick the tires" - be it a car or a fruit that they are buying. That's not something that passes along with a generation.
_sig_ is away