Professor invents 'ripeness' sticker

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

TUCSON, Ariz. - A University of Arizona professor has invented a sticker that can tell consumers if a fruit or vegetable is ripe. The stickers will be available to growers next year and should make their way to supermarkets within two to three years, said Mark Riley, a UA assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

He said growers and grocers throw out thousands of bushels of fruit each year because it ripened faster than it could get to market or be sold.

With no simple way to tell whether fruit that looks good on the outside will taste good on the inside, consumers often buy peaches, pears and melons they can't eat because they're under-ripe or overripe.


Read entire story here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060726/ap_on_sc/ripe_fruit_sticker_5).

[Jared Moya]

That sounds weird............would be a good idea with pears though, can never tell if ones ripe or not until i bite into it.

[mountain_rage]

Man this is weird inventions keep on coming out a week after I think something like it would be usefull. I was just buying mellons at the store and thought a device that either used resonance or electomagnetism to detect ripeness could maybe work but this is even better.

[Potato]

My dad's pretty good at determing if a vegetable or fruit is good. But he's not a sticker and I can't have him grocery shopping with me all the time. Damnit.

[mfgbypooter]

I can tell just by the way they look when they are juicy and ripe, but I'll always give 'em a squeeze and a sniff too, just to make sure.

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[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Enough about women, pooter, what about the fruit?

[mfgbypooter]

Never did care much for fruits, but hey, if that's your thing....

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