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Laser-Etched Fruit May Not be Good for You, but It's Happening in the EU

By Rain Noe - June 25, 2013

in Object Culture

Yesterday an EU ruling came into force that may change the look of European fruit. While it will ultimately be up to each fruit provider, it seems that fruit stickers will decline and laser-etching will take its place.

But some may find the law disturbing. To be clear, the legislation does not state that fruit must be laser-etched—rather, it states that a ban on coating fruit in certain chemicals is now null and void. For three years, a Spanish company called Laser Food has been lobbying the EU to lift the ban. Why? Self-interest. Laser Food figures their laser etching technology would be a no-brainer for fruit, replacing the ink, adhesives and paper required to create a fruit sticker, but they discovered that laser burns don't show up very well on fruit skins. (Click here to see a rather dull video of an American company doing a test-run on an untreated orange, with disappointing results.) However, they found that coating fruit with a combination of iron oxides and hydroxides provides the necessary contrast for laser etching.

British industry periodical The Grocer reports that lasering would bring cost savings and improved sortability for fruit suppliers. A Laser Food exec was effusive, claiming fruit lasering would "[facilitate] transportation and storage." But unsurprisingly, no one is providing results of any health studies saying that iron oxides and hydroxides are OK for us to ingest.

Time to read the writing on the walnut?

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jose

11 years ago

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come on! It just attack the surface and is bit burn, no chemicals and nothing else. I think that is absolutely a great idea!
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Luke

11 years ago

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Iron (II) and iron (III) oxide and hydroxide are what you'll mainly find in rust. In large quantities, it can certainly be dangerous, but have you ever heard of anyone getting iron poisoning from handling a rusty tool? The amounts present in these labels is so small as to be meaningless from a health standpoint.

Have you ever eaten a saucy, acidic meal cooked on cast iron? (Say, eggplant parmigiana?) If so, then you've consumed way more iron oxides, hydroxides, acetates, ascorbates, citrates, lactates, sulfates, chlorides, and phosphates than these labels are likely to ever contribute to your diet. Not only that, but you got a nice iron supplement as a bonus.

Let's put this another way. Ordinary table salt can kill you. I don't mean due to heart disease associated with too much sodium intake over the course of years. I mean actually kill you, causing severe harm to your digestive tract and a fatal electrolyte imbalance.

That being said, have you ever heard of someone kicking the bucket after salting their fries? No, of course not. That would be silly. So what gives? One word: quantity.

Just because some sort of chemical is used, it pays to look up what the chemical is before grilling a company over whether it's safe. Just be happy they're not using something that really is noxious, like soot or coal tar.
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Zac Morris

11 years ago

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Seriously, please don't create yet another phantom food menace!

Compared to the slurry of chemicals fruits and vegetables are exposed to during shipping and handling, oxides and hydroxides are the LEAST of your worries. You should always wash your fruits and vegetables, prior to handling them, much less eating them.
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dimitrios

11 years ago

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It is EU's job to warn its citizens if there is any danger or suspicion of, asociated with the coating. "May not be good for you" is a misleading statement if you can't back it with research. On the other side it could force the end consumer to wash the fruit which is a good habit.
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