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Ripeness Sticker Coming to Supermarket Fruit

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the give-me-talking-fruit-science dept.

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.""

7 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. Fudged? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wouldn't businesses be tempted to fudge the stickers to sell more fruit? They use red die on meat.

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    Table-ized A.I.
  2. Thanks for the conversion by Frogbert · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thanks for the conversion but why would you measure fruit in gallons or bushels? Perhaps some measure of mass would be more appropriate, say Kilograms, Pounds, Tons or Tonnes.

  3. Won't Work by DumbSwede · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And this will save grocers money how?
    Pay more for the stickers.
    Throw out more fruit as people only choose the least ripe.

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    Letter To Iran
    1. Re:Won't Work by Marcos+Eliziario · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well... Think the other way: Even loving pineapple and mango, I never buy these fruits, because I am an incompetent bastard that never know if they are ripe enough to be eaten. After some experiences buying pineapples acid enough to make me cry, I stopped buying those fruits. So, I'd definitelly would buy more fruits if I had some way of knowing if they are already ripe.

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  4. What about nearby fruit? by brandorf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So you have a pile of fruit, each with this sticker. If the chemical these stickers detect is a gas, how do I, the consumer, know that the sticker changed color because *this* fruit is ripe, and not the one next to it? If said fruit was tossed in a crate and shipped, would all the stickers turn?

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  5. Re:Metric by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The conversions everyone is giving are useless.
    The original article never gave a measurement of the number of fruit thrown out it mearly stated "thousands of bushels", which is akin to saying "lots of fruit".

    I'm hoping lots isn't a unit of some sort or some slashdotter will try and convert it :P

  6. Pears by sc0p3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Had these on Pears for years. They simply drive up the price of the fruit and add to the global plastic waste problem. The pears are packaged in packs of 4 in a plastic container.

    Just squeeze the pears for crying out loud.