DailyDirt: Sealed For Freshness... In Plastic

What is a healthy meal? If you look closely enough at almost anything, you'll find it's not as simple as you might expect. Should you eat more fruits and vegetables? Of course you should. But what if the fruit is pre-cut and conveniently packaged (or comes with a free frogurt)? Marketing healthy (or "healthier") foods is making it a bit confusing to know what's really healthy and what's just over-priced and convenient. Yay!

• Whole Foods has apologized for selling peeled tangerines in a plastic containers. Some people complained that pre-peeling tangerines and putting them in plastic was wasteful, but it seems only to apply to single fruits, not when you cut up different fruits and mix them before you sell them in plastic containers. (Or to pre-cut vegetable trays.) [url]
• Selling pre-peeled bananas, though, does seem a bit unnecessary. A few years ago, an Austrian grocery store sold bananas wrapped in clear plastic on a foam tray without banana peels. (At least the argument over which end to start peeling a banana first was neatly avoided.) [url]
• Processed foods are getting a bad reputation, but are Americans really starting to eat fresher foods? The trends point to a "snackification" of food, where people aren't buying sit-down meals as much as pre-portioned snacks. Maybe consumers think they're eating healthier (or trying to), but maybe not. [url]

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