Fruit Labels

Fresh fruits nowadays in the supermarkets tend to have labels on them, and I’ve often wondered why. At first glance it would seem that the labels are placed to advertise where the fruits come from. But such a lot of trouble, for each individual fruit (I’m talking millions upon millions) THAT makes for very expensive advertising.

So there must be another reason. Government regulation? Batch number? Who knows?

Imagine what is required to have a sticky label on each fruit. Surely that can’t be done manually? Must be by machine. But each fruit – each plum, each pear, each apricot, each peach, each nectarine! So, okay, these are from California, where high technology rules. Computers can do wonderful things with robots. See what they use to build cars? Robots. Highly efficient and accurate robots. Surely the same technology can be applied to fragile fruits.

But there are fruits from other parts of the world. Bananas from Ecuador, melons from Chile. Do they have high-tech robots in those places? Or must their labels be affixed laboriously by hand?

Whatever the case may be, the fact that each fruit has a label is a source of amazement to this writer. And a source of annoyance at times, as well.

Just try peeling a label off a ripe and juicy plum without tearing the skin. Can’t be done.