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| New laser labels. Photo: ARS/USDA. |
The FDA is expected to approve laser-etching of fruits and vegetables in the next month or so, paving the way for produce "tattooed" with product information to hit store shelves, an official with the USDA tells Slashfood.
"We figure maybe next month or the month after it will get FDA approval," says Jan Narciso, a research microbiologist with the USDA's Citrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory in Winter Haven, Fla.
But will these new labels affect the taste of your fruits and vegetables?
"Not at all," Narciso says. The laser beam penetrates the outer layer of the fruit or vegetable's cells, exposing a bit of the pith. "What this does is just penetrates the few cells of that colored layer and exposes the underlying layer. So it doesn't go anywhere near the part of the fruit that you eat. It's just on the peel."
To make sure the technology was safe, Narciso's lab tested it on foods painted with pathogens and disease organisms to see if they would infect fruit that had been labeled with lasers; they didn't. The laser "zaps the tissue, and it makes kind of like a callus, so that nothing gets through there," she says. "It's really very, very clean, and you can eat it."
The technology was invented by Greg Drouillard, the director of research technology for laser development for Sunkist Growers Inc., in Sherman Oaks, Calif., according to the Packer, a trade publication for the packing industry. Time called it one of the best inventions of 2005.
"It can print anything," Drouillard tells the Packer. "The criteria of what determines what you're printing are how fast the product is moving on the packing line and how big the product is. How much of the tomato do you want to cover with information?"
Narciso says their tests of the technology shows that it can print on just about any fruit and vegetable.
"We determined you can use them on just about anything except leafy greens, which we don't stick labels on anyway," she says.
The new labels could hit shelves as early as late autumn.
What do you think of the new labels? Let us know in the comments below.
| Yes. | |
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| Not sure. | |
| No way! |
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9-11-2009 @1:57PM lemontree said... "What this does is just penetrates the few cells of that colored layer and exposes the underlying layer. So it doesn't go anywhere near the part of the fruit that you eat. It's just on the peel."
I eat the peels of everything pictured except the onion. I don't really have a problem with the technology. It seems pretty safe, but I do have a problem with the above statement.
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3-14-2010 @11:12PM Jeffw said... pathetic!
Soon they will have a "standard" and try to tell ME that back yard garden needs to be "laser labeled"...wake up people ASK YOURSELF..WHY...WHAT IS THE POINT?? ..Hello anyone listening?
oh well people are sheep no abilities to think for themselves anymore
9-11-2009 @2:41PM hulabaloo said... I don't want words on the food I cook!
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9-11-2009 @2:44PM Stanley said... The statement that it doesn't penetrate into the fruit, only the peel, isn't true for tomatoes, because you eat the whole tomato and not just the inside. Same thing goes for Apples. So how can that statement be true. I still wonder if we should be tampering with the way we label fruits and vegetables. Ten years from now, we'll find out it wasn't as safe as everyone thought. Isn't that usually the norm.
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9-11-2009 @2:49PM joan said... 'Lemontree' is right. Who "peels" a pepper? And, sometimes, those red potatoes are cooled and eaten with the peels on, as well as the tomatoes! I see that our government is still spewing lies! Hopefully, organic veggies will be left 'laser-free'
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9-11-2009 @2:49PM Esther said... For me, the concern isn't safety; it's appearance. If I'm snacking at home, or if I'm cooking the food, it's not a concern. However, if I were making a nice meal for people -- something that involved wedges of a fruit or vegetable that wasn't peeled -- it'd be annoying to have part of the produce that I couldn't use.
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9-11-2009 @3:02PM Jeanne said... I don't see why anyone should have a problem with this. It's just a tiny bit of extra cooking that I seriously doubt could even be noticed when you eat it.
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9-11-2009 @3:13PM Pinus1 said... What do you think of the new labels? Let us know in the comments below.
Would you eat laser-labeled fruit?
What are my other options if I must buy from a grocery store? Local fruits and veggies are not available all year long. Who really likes the frozen ones unless they may be in a soup or stew..
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9-11-2009 @3:31PM cruella said... Thank God, I grow my own
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9-11-2009 @3:38PM mrsbacot1984 said... OMG-The end is near...the more I see stuff like this the more I think about revelations and what we are to expect with time and from what I see being invented and the tools that they have now...it makes me wonder what they are going to come up with to tattoo on us to keep up with us and our profiles...Who knows.
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9-13-2009 @4:43PM jetaime said... Sorry - am not for the laser method of scratching into our foodstuffs. Like our skin, which is our outermost layer and is our body's first line of defense against infection - so, too, is the outer layer of the food you speak of. You say the food will build callouses that would protect the food beneath - how long does that take? That period of wait time leaves the food at risk of picking up contaminants. Also, those scratches which nick the protective skin, would hasten the rotting process. And who is to pick of the cost of all this hi-tech and unnecessary equipment. Us, of course. No, thank you.
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9-11-2009 @3:42PM N. H. Peters said... It's a wonder that some of the food nazis and the little weenies who wring their hands over things like this can eat ANYTHING at all. Some people should acquaint themselves with Shakespeares "Much Ado About Nothing." If this bothers you.....grow your own food.
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9-11-2009 @10:08PM Jan T said... I agree that this technology might be unsightly when preparing for company, but it appears to be harmless.
I'd also like to make a plug for radiating perishable food. It would make our food supply safer and virtually eliminate e-coli, salmonella and other bacterial contaminations, therefore, saving lives. Europe has been doing this for years with no problems.
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9-11-2009 @3:46PM Ali said... I thought the exact same thing, who doesn't eat the skin of a pepper?
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9-11-2009 @4:03PM J said... I absolutely hate trying to get those little stickers off, especially tomatoes. Getting it off rips the skin sometimes. I think the etching is fine. It's just a slight burn on the micro surface, how is it not safe?
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9-11-2009 @3:57PM Robert said... Thats right, much ado about nothing!! The end of the world? WTF? Revelations?? People are no more advanced mentally these days then they were back in the stone age. This is progress people! I could go in any one of the negative peoples homes posting and find something that is making us all go to hell in a hand basket and evil. I am also NOT opposed to people getting bar codes when born, its the same as a Social Security number. People are soo stupid. Oh, by the way, 666! Are you scared?
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9-11-2009 @4:05PM katie said... I just wonder if it is going to bruise the fruit or vegetable and cause it to decay quicker.
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9-11-2009 @4:16PM Maggie said... I wonder who will pay for this?
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9-11-2009 @4:15PM Thomas said... Not only words -- I mean yeah sure, they are using it for info about the product now, but soon your fruit/veggys will also have blatant advertisements too. Your watermelon will be a billboard!
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9-11-2009 @4:19PM Cindy said... I have no problem with the lazer marking as long as it actually doesn't do any harm to the produce or to anyone who consumes them; sometimes the stickers are annoying to pull off and on few (very few but annoying) occasions stick almost permanently onto the peel! For foods that have the peels left on when cooking, like tomatoes, wouldn't you just eat the peel anyway since it's so cooked through?? And even at that wouldn't the peel cook so much that you can't even read the words if the lazers etch only so much out to "print" the labels???
And as of presentation for fruits like apples, uhhh just don't use the slice that has some of the words on them....I mean that slice of the apple IS edible still right XD? Just eat it yourself and don't present it on the table! I dunno what the fuss is all about here...
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