Who knows what was done to your apple before it made its way to you.
In their never-ending quest to fuck with our food, some growers and packers, in the U.S. and worldwide, are now using a synthetic gas called SmartFresh to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by weeks and even months. The gas is already being used on cantaloupes and bananas, and apples look like its next target.
By staving off the ripening process, SmartFresh preserves produce’s crispness, though it may sacrifice some of its aroma. That’s not really foremost on my mind. What does concern me is that fruits and veggies treated with the gas don’t have to be labeled as such (unlike meat, which will now sport labels aplenty) and can still be identified as organic—huh? But that’s okay, because “the treatment is most likely harmless to humans, according to pesticide experts.” I feel much better now.
1 Comment
sleckie
on #Apples in Canada have been gassed for a long as I can remember. It is a good way to preserve local fruit for eating throughout the year. The alternative would be to import apples over long distance. This involves fossil fuels, refrigerated trucks, wider highways, more road kill, etc. Check out veg.ca’s Local and Organic webpage.