news.yahoo.com — 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.
Jul 26, 2006 View in Crawl 4
thewhitefedoraJul 27, 2006
The stupidity in this reminds me of a poem I wrote.
persnicketyJul 27, 2006
That's easy! No pear is ripe after 3 years! :P
hotpepperJul 27, 2006
You need a sticker like this.
dannyguttersJul 27, 2006
to tell you if the're 18?
akkarin128Jul 27, 2006
'So your saying that a store manager should be able to look at a few hundred apples and know which ones are ready to sell within the next few days'Erm...yes. Either way, he's going to be looking at a few hundred things, and to be honest, if he's tasked to check the apples, he should bloody well know how to check apples, dontcha think?
brooksadsitJul 27, 2006
that's the point, the sticker measures ethylene emissions, which occur when fruit ripens, but depending on the variety and type of fruit it would have to be calibrated.
enrothJul 28, 2006
For those people that are saying this technology will be useless in stores, they may be right, but I believe the article mentioned putting the stickers on the fruit while still on the tree, so the fruit would be picked at the right time. By watching the rate the sticker changed colour they would be able to tell the rate at which the fruit was ripening, so that when it arrived at your local store, it will be just rite for eating.(This is my first post, and I just discovered there is a button that checks spelling, just thought that one or more people would like to use it, I know I will, and may have even missed something but still)
zodiacJul 30, 2006
This is similar to the drink umbrellas... Pointless but are used... Oh well, woot for Tucson!