Low-Energy Laser Etching May Replace Fruit Labels

MikeChino writes "How many times have you bit into a piece of fruit only to find that you're also chomping on a sticker label? The small sticky labels have long been the bane of waste-conscious fruit and vegetable eaters, but that might all change thanks to new technology that uses a low-energy carbon dioxide laser beam to etch information directly onto produce. No more peeling those annoying labels! So far the technology is being used on a number of fruits and vegetables in New Zealand, Australia, and Pacific Rim countries, and it's currently going through the final stages of review by the FDA. Once the technology is approved in the US, researchers from the University of Florida and the USDA Agricultural Research Service hope that it will be used in Florida's massive grapefruit industry."

Comments

Re:An answer in search for a problem?

[FlyingBishop]

I compost all of my fruit, and this will be great, as fruit like bananas and oranges will no longer generate any waste I can't compost.

Re:What does this do, chemically?

[jimicus]

The process must be approved by the FDA. You can be sure they will ask all those questions and some you haven't thought of.

I'm always very leery of that sort of assurance because I've heard very similar things from my own MP (I'm in the UK) and IME it invariably means "I have so much blind faith in the system that I'm not even going to take your query seriously enough to forward it on to the relevant people".

And it later transpires that the relevant people had not thought about it...

Re:What does this do, chemically?

[jcochran]

And did you not actually read the article? That issue was addressed within it.

In recent tests, the research team found that laser-labeled Ruby Red grapefruits showed no increase in decay or water loss compared to their sticker-labeled counterparts. The grapefruit also remained free of pathogens-meaning the laser-etching doesn't provide a new entry point for germs.

But then again, this is slashdot so, who am I to expect people to actually read the article prior to commenting on it?

Re:An answer in search for a problem?

[Anonymusing]

"How many times have you bit into a piece of fruit only to find that you're also chomping on a sticker label?"

Erm, never? Because I always wash my fruits (as in apples, pears) first before eating them?

Even stupider, they're talking about laser etching on citrus fruit. You peel those fruits before you eat them (well, most people do). There are no stickers inside the fruit.