Beer and cake in the backyard the other night somehow spurred a conversation about foods and food markets (and I'm almost sure it wasn't me that steered the conversation there :) ) and then to fruit imports. We were discussing how tomatoes are picked before they are ripe in some production areas in Mexico and then stored and artificially ripened via ethylene gas before they arrive in the U.S. (actually I looked into it further today and found a statistic that said 80 percent of fresh tomatoes on the market are ripened with ethylene). Doing some reading today for a paper I'm working on I learned that many bananas are also given this treatment-in fact most bananas around the world are selectively bred to not ripen on their own. On a side note, it is my understanding that the gassing of fruit is done in a closed environment (i.e.: no exposure to humans/animals), however, it should be noted that ethylene is hazardous to humans -depending on amount of exposure (and oxygen levels). But you know, it's okay to use on our food, right?
Also, that evening we spied the oh so funny Jelly Belly energizing "Sport Beans" first ingredient sugar, second ingredient corn syrup...and natural fruit flavor. ah ha! ah ha!
3 comments:
People stupid enough to eat the beans deserve to die on dehydration.
The fruit produces that chemical on its own, so it's not like adding it artificially is any more dangerous to the end product. It's what allows our produce supply chain to work.
Yeah, I'm less concerned about ingesting the sprayed fruit than the actual hazards of the spraying.
The global food supply chain is a clusterfuck.
Post a Comment