Sun screen for produce

by Shayna Glick, Posted Aug 4th 2008 @ 1:00PM

View of a friut orchard, probably apples.

We all know that we're supposed to wear sun screen to protect us from harmful radiation from the sun, right? Well did you know that fruit or vegetables grown in the sun need it too?

I know that thought has never occurred to me before, but I can see the reasoning. If human skin can get sunburned, why not apple skin? Apparently about 20 to 40 percent of some crops are destroyed every year from solar radiation, according to an article in the Mercury News. That's bad for farmers, who can only use the damaged fruit for juice, as well as the environment, as crops that are more susceptible to sun damage need more water.

The article features a company that makes sunscreen for produce, Purfresh which makes the veggie sunscreen Purshade among other things. I just thought that this perspective on sunburn was very interesting and worth sharing. How do you feel about sun screen for produce?

Filed Under: Farming, Newspapers, Ingredients
Tags: fruit, fruits, mercury news, MercuryNews, produce, purfresh, purshade, sun screen, SunScreen, vegetables, veggies

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-04-2008 @2:13PM Tim said... I have two questions: Is it organic, and do I need to take special care when washing foods treated with it? I see the article says that it washes off easily with water, but is it okay if I eat it? And what if it gets into the water table?

If it's fine for the environment and the people that eat it, I'm all for it. I'm not being contrarian just because it doesn't exist in nature.
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8-04-2008 @2:31PM lesliedegrassi said... I just began experimenting with shading part of my garden to grow some crops that bolt when it's this hot. I couldn't find the shade cloth I wanted locally so I think we are using screen cloth. So far, so good.

See some pix at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weffie/2728793378/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weffie/2689129215/in/set-72157604127962421/
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