"Pre-slicedFruit" news and stories

When they first hit the mainstream, I was totally in favor of baby carrots. It happened sometime during my high school years and I remember being able to buy a turkey sandwich on a bagel and a small bag of baby carrots from the cafeteria for $1.50. It felt like a huge bargain and it gave me the sense that I was eating a fairly healthy meal, since nothing in my lunch had taken a trip through the deep fryer that the cafeteria workers loved so much.

Friday night I was at my local Acme, and I came across pre-packaged pineapple wedges, orange slices and grapes, pre-plucked from their stems. They were all packed in a plastic tray, which was then wrapped in cellophane. They came in four-packs, so the wrapped trays were then swathed again in an additional layer of cellophane, to keep them bundled together. I blame baby carrots for these overly packaged fruits, as they were the first product that made us accustomed to ready-to-eat produce.

I think we've gone too far. I know that people claim that these products increase the amount of fruits and vegetables that people eat, but how hard is it to slice an orange yourself? I know that fresh pineapple is a pain to cut, but if you don't want to trouble yourself with the minutia of taking it apart yourself, you can buy yourself a gadget that will do it in seconds.

What do you guys think about the pre-cut, pre-packaged fruit and vegetable trend?