Fruit beauty is only skin deep.

This story could apply to lots of countries in the world, if we want less pesticides used on our fruit and vege, we need to accept that they will be less than perfect.

spud

http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2011/01/25//3121456.htm


Fruit beauty is only skin deep
By Sara Phillips
ABC Environment | 25 Jan 2011
Bananas

Up to one-third of Australian bananas are thrown away because they are not beautiful enough for supermarket sale. Credit: Giulio Saggin (ABC News).

She looked so beautiful. A gentle blush to her soft skin. Firm, round, pleasing to the eye. But when I got the apricot home from the supermarket, I was disappointed. Juicy and soft on the inside, she unfortunately lacked entirely for flavour.

The recent floods that have swamped (and are still swamping) much of eastern Australia have devastated our crops. Farmers who had taken a beating throughout the drought years were knocked down again with this latest hit from the weather.

In response, the major supermarket chains have said they'll sell fruit and veg that wouldn't normally be up to their rigorous standards. It's either that or import produce from overseas.

And while Australians are no doubt enormously heartened that the duopoly that controls our nutrition in Australia is pitching in to help the flood-affected farmers in this way, it raises the question of why they don't sell this kind of fruit and veg all the time?

Some 80 per cent of Australians shop at Coles and Woollies. Forty-five per cent of our fruit and veg is bought at these two chains.

This means that the two biggest supermarkets dictate a lot of what farmers grow in Australia. They are in touch with what consumers are demanding, and so pass along the message. If suddenly everyone wants grape tomatoes in their salads, or bok choi in a stirfry, farmers duly raise these crops.

And because we're a picky bunch, the supermarkets spend time and energy bringing us 'the best' fruit and veg.

Our tomatoes are a beautiful, even bright red. Our bok choi is free of the nibble marks of any insect. Broccoli is a uniform size and shape, apples are shiny and unblemished.

Not unlike Darwinian natural selection, consumer selection means only the fittest fruit and veg survive on the supermarket shelves.

For the folks out there actually growing this stuff, the demand for perfect fruit and veg means waste. A lot of waste.

One report from last year said that up to one third of the total banana crop grown in Queensland each year is thrown away simply because it's not pretty enough for the big supermarkets.

It also means that a limited variety of fruit and veg is grown. Only the varieties that will reliably produce big quantities of homogenous produce are stocked, so that we can be greeted with a comforting familiarity in the supermarket aisles. Fruit may not be local, it may not be fresh and it may not be in season, but we know what to expect.

A report from University of Queensland population health expert, Jon Wardle found that, "Smaller, independent grocers may be able to provide a larger variety of fresh, seasonal and often local produce - often procured on a daily process from wholesale markets, whereas larger retailers are dependent on their nationwide distribution networks that may result in requiring longer travel times or complex long-storage techniques for fresh produce. As a result a possibility exists that the food has been nutritionally compromised by the time it reaches the consumer."

The big supermarkets' efficient delivery methods mean varieties that are suited for long periods of cold storage, have the ability to survive long journeys, and have a long shelf-life are preferred.

And here's something you already know: they look great, but they taste like nothing much.

When I was young (and despite reports to the contrary, it wasn't THAT long ago), fruit and veg tasted like something: carrots were carroty, avocado was avocadoey and tomatoes, well only those that grow their own will these days understand what it is that tomatoes are supposed to taste like.

Seriously, when was the last time you had an apricot from one of the big supermarket chains that really oozed that sweet, warm, summery apricot flavour?

When you grow your own, you don't sweat a little nibble from a passing insect or snail. Labour and love went into the raising of those seeds. You trim off the offending part and munch it without a second thought.

When you're shopping, you have more choice. You're handing over your hard-earned in exchange for the labour of a farmer somewhere, and so you can afford expect a higher, more professional, standard of produce than your own fumbling garden efforts.

But our obsession with appearance means that the varieties we have forced the supermarkets into presenting are like the supermodels of the fruit world: look great, but that's it.

Our selection in the fruit and veg section of the supermarket has meant that the choices available to us today have evolved to be bland beauties.

South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has urged Aussies to embrace the "ugly" fruit, and learn to look beyond beauty. His advice would see Australians dramatically reduce food waste across the nation.

And just as consumer selection has pushed 'perfect' produce onto the supermarket shelves in the first place, so it could be used to restore fruit with flavour in the long term.

At produce wholesale markets around the country a sample piece is often available for consumers to judge the fruit by flavour, not by beauty. Such a simple gesture would allow supermarket shoppers to do the same.

Learning that beauty is only skin deep could help Australians eat local, eat seasonal and reduce waste. All of which are wins for the environment.
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