Sticky problem solved
The NZ Herald today reports that Cliff Barnett is so incensed by stickers on fruit that he just had to take a stand, "This is a silly practice, especially when the skin is edible and you can accidentally eat the sticky label. If you take the labeled fruit home, then every time you decide to eat a separate piece of fruit you have to make a trip to the rubbish bag and try to unstick the tiny label from the end of your finger. As a means of protest, I take the label off every piece of fruit as I select it in the shop. I put all the labels back on to one single piece of fruit and leave it for other shoppers and the shop staff to see." I suspect that this item is a follow-up to a Letter to the Editor that carried a similar complaint. The writer had gone on to speculate that they may even start labelling individual grapes! The label issue is obviously a worry ..... to at least two New Zealanders.
A few of us expat Brits got together today around the coffee machine (now full of beans and functioning normally again) to try to find a solution to this very sticky problem. Me: They could use edible labels … or ones that dissolve in water when the fruit is washed, suggests Zac. This guy doesn’t want to waste time washing fruit, contributes Jones. After discussing whether or not we should patent the edible/soluble label idea, the conversation deteriorated somewhat. It was probably my fault. I said, I always wash fruit before eating it. Haven’t you seen all these people in the supermarket who handle all the fruit before selecting the one or two they are actually going to buy? Well, you never know where their hands have been, do you? That’s when Zac recalled a study he had read that found that bowls of peanuts in pubs are often contaminated by customers who haven’t washed their hands after going to the loo. That’s OK, people have been known to drink their own urine. It’s therapeutic, offers Jones. Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India in the late 1970s was a well known urine-drinker, I volunteer.
I still think there could be a market for edible/soluble labels on fruit. Or edible labels could also be soluble …. any takers?
A few of us expat Brits got together today around the coffee machine (now full of beans and functioning normally again) to try to find a solution to this very sticky problem. Me: They could use edible labels … or ones that dissolve in water when the fruit is washed, suggests Zac. This guy doesn’t want to waste time washing fruit, contributes Jones. After discussing whether or not we should patent the edible/soluble label idea, the conversation deteriorated somewhat. It was probably my fault. I said, I always wash fruit before eating it. Haven’t you seen all these people in the supermarket who handle all the fruit before selecting the one or two they are actually going to buy? Well, you never know where their hands have been, do you? That’s when Zac recalled a study he had read that found that bowls of peanuts in pubs are often contaminated by customers who haven’t washed their hands after going to the loo. That’s OK, people have been known to drink their own urine. It’s therapeutic, offers Jones. Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India in the late 1970s was a well known urine-drinker, I volunteer.
I still think there could be a market for edible/soluble labels on fruit. Or edible labels could also be soluble …. any takers?
posted by Omykiss at 3:35 pm
6 Comments:
I agree. I hate having to remove labels from bananas, apples and tomatoes. If they label grapes, I will probably never buy them again. Water soluable imprints are the way to go.
Organic bread in the UK is often labelled with a small circular sticker of rice paper, which is edible (and undetectable as you eat). Surely there's a fruit equivalent.
Agreed too -but doubt if anyone outside organics would follow up Zinnia's idea. Have been tempted to use 'granny smith' labels to stick on self. Desist because 2nd part would be a lie. Your Helen Clark's a doll... And i'm not talking action man
Following up on zinnia's idea ... zac came up with the idea of flavoured labels ... vanilla on apples, custard on bananas, chocolate on strawberries ... and so on.
I've found a creative use for these labels. take a look at this post and tell me what you think.
I do not like the sticky lables AT ALL! They irritate me. Taking them off before buying them, that's a good idea. I have gone through my bag of apples after getting them home, removing all the damn labels all at once so they don't bother me more than once. But if I don't do that the labels get stuck to some surface near where ever I happen to be standing when I go to eat my apple. I imagine there is someone out there with a special album containing an impressive array of fruit stickers. Then you will have rare ones, collector's ones, manufacturer faulted ones. Maybe someone will print off a role of fake ones and stick them on all the fruit at the supermarkets to fool people. We might eventually get polititians in their camapaign speeches promising to put an end to the sticky lables on fruits. And getting elected (shudder).
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