Ripeness Sticker Coming to Supermarket Fruit

Adam Weiss writes "A biosystems engineering professor has just announced a "ripeness sticker" for fruit. According to this AP article, grocers throw out thousands of bushels of fruit a year because it ripens too fast (1 bushel is about 9 U.S. gallons). Mark Riley's RediRipe stickers turn from white to blue as fruit ripens. The stickers react with ethylene gas, a chemical which is released as fruit or vegetables ripen. However the article says "there are still bugs to be worked out: The stickers do not change color to reflect an overripe or rotten piece of fruit. Also, not all fruit produces enough ethylene to be detected by the sticker.""

Comments

Metric

[CRCulver]

...1 bushel is about 9 US gallons...

It would have been friendly of the editors to provide a metric equivalent for the large percentage of their readership outside of the United States. Running GNU units on 1 bushel tells me that it is just over 35 liters.

Re:Metric

[baywulf]

You could have typed "bushels to liters" in Google and gotten the conversion in a few seconds.

Re:Thanks for the conversion

[techno-vampire]

Why do they measure fruit in bushels? It's simple: that's the traditional measurement in the US, and the article was written in the US for the US market.

Re:Thanks for the conversion

[0racle]

Maybe because a bushel is 'A unit of volume measure used as dry measure of grains and produce.'

What about underripe fruit

[LarsWestergren]

Interesting, in Sweden just a day ago a newspaper reported that they had tested fruits and vegetables sold in Sweden with a refractometer, and out of 120 tests on produce sold in different stores, 64 were poor and 56 average, not a single fruit or veggie were "good" or "exceptional".

The low Brix numbers measured indicate poor taste and nutrient levels, and are caused by too early harvesting, and speeding up growth with fertilizers and greenhouses (not enough time to accumulate nutrients from earth). Understandable, since this lowers risk for producers and allows them to ship long distances, for instance from New Zealand or Argentina. But consumers pay, because you need to eat more fruit and veg to get the beneficial effects, and they don't taste as well.

Note that this newspaper is very pro-trade, pro-globalization and generally rightwing.

whatever

[Anonymous Coward]

Anybody who buys fruit regularly can tell how ripe it is by touching it. I've been making a lot of smoothies this summer and I can pretty much tell what a banana, peach, or mango will taste like with a very gentle squeeze. I'm okay with tomatoes but it seems like they vary.. sometimes they are hard but ready to eat. (My girlfriend can explain.. just kidding).

And actually, I don't see how this sticker will reduce the amount fruit the grocers have to throw out.

Re:whatever

[el_gordo101]

Pineapple - go by smell. It should have a rich pineapple smell. If it has no smell whatsoever, leave it. Pineapples do not ripen once harvested, so you can't count on that happening on your shelf at home. They will simply turn brown instead. Watermelon - These are a bit more difficult, but there is a trick to picking a good one. Look at the bottom of the melon (where it sits on the ground as it grows). The patch where it has been sitting should be a rich cream color. If it is too white, the melon is probably under-ripe. Check the outer skin, any small rotten patches indicate that the melon is going bad. To determine ripeness, knock on the outside of the melon with your knuckles. The sound it makes should be a ringing "doom" sound, like a bongo drum. If is is more of a dull "thud", the melon is probably starting to rot. Also, pick the melon up. If it feels heavy for its size, it is probably not hollowed out in the middle and full of yummy goodness. I used to be a green-grocer in a previous life, so I know a thing or two about fresh produce.

Finally something I know about!

[Sargeant Slaughter]

SO I;m probably one of the only people that visists this site that actually was a "journeyman" produce guy and have dealt with ordering and throwing out massive quatities of produce for various stores (Vons, Henrys, and Bristol Farms). Any good produce manager already knows what he's got in his cooler and how ripe it is, without some sticker to mislead him. Sometimes different fruit give off different amounts of gas at the same ripeness level depending on where it was grown, how long in it was in cold storage, etc... Since produce is in the USA is constantly coming in from all over the world, I don't think these stickers would be very reliable. Also I don't think the stickers would help much with waste because buyers over order on purpose when they can get a good deal. Buyers and district managers will push the dept managers to order more as well to get it outta the warehouse before it goes bad too. A lot of the time, (unlike other grocery items) produce sales (5 grapefruit for a dollar etc...) are based on availability of particular crops at good prices. THe buyer will order a crapload, the chain puts 'em on sale and hope that the product sells before they go bad. Cold storage can make some produce items last surprisingly long (several months sometimes) but a LOT of the time stores end up throwing out tons of the stuff, totally wasteful, but hey thats capitalism! I think the only thing these stickers would be good for would be to inform customers that don't know when their fruit is ripe. However, the afformentioned problems would still arise and it is doubtful that they would be very reliable. I think this was mentioned in the article, but don't know for sure cause I don't have time to read it - typical /. style ;-)

Re:Fudged?

[ozmanjusri]

It was carbon dioxide.

Actually, they use carbon monoxide for that.

Re:hasnt this been around for a while?

[Judge_Fire]

"i'm sure i've seen one of these before"

They've been talked about for years, here's a mention I found about a New Zealand/Oregon- based test:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/11/26/pears.s tickers.reut/index.html

J

Already done

[onco_p53]

We have had this in New Zealand for a while now, the product is Ripe Sense invented by scientists at Hort Research New Zealand.

Re:What about nearby fruit?

[profet]

I've seen this technology before. The fruit was pears and they were sold in fours in a clear plastic packaging. The packaging was square shaped with each pear sitting in a corner. The top was domed and on the inside of the packaging was the sticker. I believe the discovery channel had a piece about this last year.

Here is the video:
VIDEO

Re:Thanks for the conversion

[kfg]

I'm just wondering who, way back in the days of yore, decided it would be better to measure fruit by liquid measurements and not by their mass.

The farmers who told the Mexicans they'd give 'em a dime for every basket they filled.

And buyers who came in and said "How much to fill this basket?"

A cord of wood is how much you can fit in a farm cart.

It's not a "liquid" measure. It's a farmer's dry goods measure, based on the tools they used to carry the goods.

KFG

Re:What about nearby fruit?

[kfg]

The gas is actually a ripening agent. Its function is to make all the fruit in the same vicinity ripen at about the same time. Want your bananas to ripen faster? Stick 'em in a bag. The bag holds in the gas, which concentrates, quickening and syncronizing the ripening.

Stick a fruit that's a bit riper in a crate? The others will start catching up, because of the gas released by the riper fruit.

One bad apple. . .

That's why they try not to do that when they pack 'em.

KFG

Re:Won't Work

[Mike_K]

Here's a trick I learned about buying a pineapple: try to pull out a leaf. If it comes out easily and at the base of the leaf, it's ripe. Otherwise, it's not.

Enjoy sweet sweet pineapples!

m

Re:Thanks for the conversion

[jtcm]

I'm just wondering who, way back in the days of yore, decided it would be better to measure fruit by liquid measurements and not by their mass.

I doubt anyone conciously decided, it's a matter of practicality. It's also not a liquid measure; it's specified in the US as "dry measure".

The baskets they used to hold the fruit are called "bushel baskets" or just bushels. How much fruit do you have? Count the baskets. I'm not positive, but I'd bet the basket was called a bushel before the measure of volume.

If it's slightly unripe, microwave it

[Anonymous Coward]

If you start eating a fruit and find it's not yet quite ripe, heat it in the microwave for a minute. This releases more of the fruit sugar and makes it taste sweeter. I've done this with mangos.

Re:Won't Work

[will_die]

Well for pineaple this sticker would not work.
Pineapple will not ripen after picked, it will start, at the base, to turn yellowish and indication that the flesh is getting softer, rotting which you want some of. While that would produce etheyle it would not get any better tasting. The pulling of the leaf test will kind of work it misses the reason behind it. You want a pineapple that is heavy for its weight, it has alot of water in it, and is still fresh so the crown is still green and the leaves have not dried out.
However the best indication for a good pineapple is to find out where it comes from, usally shown on a sticker or sign in store, and then know the temperature of that place. Since pineapple cannot be frozen or stored long time, reason you have canned ones, it has to come to the store from the fields. Pineapple picked during the colder time has more acid and less suger, thoses picked during the summer have more suger. So with you knowing the location where it was picked and if the plant is still fresh you can make a guess of when it was picked and how it will taste.

As for mangos they could use the sticker since they are best eaten when they are producing alarge amount of ethylene. However with mango you can detect that your self by smelling the fruit, if you get a strong smell it is ripe and ready to be eaten. Also mangos will ripen on the shelf, or using the old paper bag to speed up the process(larger consentration of ethylene causes them to ripen faster).

liquid gallon vs dry gallon

[Harlow_B_Ashur]

1989 units, 71 prefixes, 32 nonlinear units

You have: bushel
You want: gallon
        * 9.3091775
        / 0.10742088
You have: bushel
You want: drygallon
        * 8
        / 0.125
You have: bushel
You want: peck
        * 4
        / 0.25
You have: bushel
You want: quart
        * 37.23671
        / 0.026855219
You have: bushel
You want: liter
        * 35.23907
        / 0.028377593

Re:Won't Work

[Scarblac]

Actually, the result of genetical engineering (or at least, good old selective breeding). Wikipedia says:

At one time, most canned and fresh pineapples were produced on Smooth Cayenne plants. Since about 2000, the most common fresh pineapple fruit found in U.S. and European supermarkets is a low-acid hybrid that was developed in Hawaii in the early 1970s.

Look for brand names like 'Del Monte Extra Sweet Pineapple Gold' and you know you have the sweet version.