# Barcodes on fruit disturbs me.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 4, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862 "2009-07-04T01:52:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862/41 "2009-07-06T02:22:56Z")

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> [@Phlosphr](#):
>
> It’s a lame rant I know. I’m sure they speed up the process, no matter which process it is. I suppose I just don’t like the marrying of technology and fruit, the utility of the sticker is irrelevent, to me. Smeghead your scenerio scares me, glad we’re not there yet.

You think that THIS is when technology and fruit got married? Oy vey! Technology and fruit have been hitched since the year gimel.

> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#):
>
> Yes. Fujis come in those little [crocheted styrofoam koozies](http://greenway.win.mofcom.gov.cn/www/25/greenway/img/2007919112232.jpg). Galas have a [lovely blend of red and yellow shades](http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50265683/Royal_Gala_Apples.jpg) and are simply yummy.\* Red delicious apples are red, [in no uncertain terms](http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/demos/fruitshop/images/red-delicious-apple.jpg), but not delicious at all. 😃
> 
> What really throws me for a loop is when they started putting koozies on Galas as well. Generally, I can tell the difference by the price. Those Fujis are some pricey apples.

Where do you live? Around here, the Fujis and the Galas cost about the same, and neither are in koozies.

(And thank you for the word “koozies,” by the way.)

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**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862/42 "2009-07-06T03:00:29Z")

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> [@Green\_Bean](#):
>
> Where do you live? Around here, the Fujis and the Galas cost about the same, and neither are in koozies.

Well, in Charlotte now, but I remember koozies on Fujis up in Ohio, as well. I always thought if they dressed up the fruit because they were too expensive to allow them bruise. I guess if the price came down enough, it would be hard to justify the expense of individually wrapping them.

> [@](#):
>
> (And thank you for the word “koozies,” by the way.)

You’re welcome, but I can’t [take credit](http://images.google.com/images?rlz=1C1CHMA_enUS316US316&sourceid=chrome&q=beer+koozie&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi) for it. I almost called them crocheted Fuji underpants.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862/43 "2009-07-06T15:53:33Z")

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[QUOTE=Green Bean]  
Where do you live? Around here, the Fujis and the Galas cost about the same, and neither are in koozies.  
[/QUOTE]

I haven’t seen padded Fuji apples in a while either, but those Japanese pears that cost about eighteen bucks a pound are still gently swaddled in foam and packed in divided boxes resembling giant egg cartons.

**They cost about the same**. There’s the rub. Have you no idea how long and how loud some people will bitch and moan if they think the store is ripping them off by three cents when they buy one Fuji on sale at $1.59 a pound and Galas are $1.69 a pound?

Having massacred whole orchards and groves worth of peaches, pears and other soft fruits by peeling off those SKU labels, I’m all for the laser tattoos. Nothing to peel off, and the application is touchless, so one less opportunity for the fruit to get bruised.

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862/44 "2009-07-06T17:26:47Z")

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> [@runcible\_spoon](#):
>
> Seriously? I must know how! Man, to think I could walk down the aisle of Safeway with a barcode reader and scrape that kind of data…

My understanding is that the barcode on the bottle is a pointer to a bunch of other databases which hold the information, which lets vendors keep certain things proprietary.

Here is the wine industry traceability guidelines (warning: PDF.)

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcodes-on-fruit-disturbs-me/501862/45 "2009-07-06T18:02:30Z")

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> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> I have been eating Red Pistachios or Pink Lemonade and someone who’s never heard of it will get all “weirded out,” by it.
> 
> It’s the same thing, just with some food coloring type dye added. As long as the dye is harmless who cares.

I used to know someone who thought that blue corn chips were totally gross and disgusting. Then I told her that I miss white hot dogs that were only available in one city in the world. She nearly freaked.

“What do they put in them to make them white?” She had that look on her face like she had caught me in a logical trap and my only possible conclusion was that it had to be rat farts and poison. When I said pork it took the wind out of her sails a bit. But she was still freaked.

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