How supermarkets keep their vegetables so fresh?

How supermarkets keep their vegetables so fresh?

There seem to be countless accounts of consumers skipping the supermarket fresh produce in favour of local farms, subscription packages, or farmers’ markets. Some do it for ethical grounds, some for flavour, and several say you’re less capable of finding the best nutritional vegetables at large chain store. However, do these claims hold any truth?

Couple buying vegetables produce from supermaket packaged

The truth behind your produce in supermarkets

A brief glance at most of the nutrition labels reveals the origin of the fruit or vegetables. You see they are from New Zealand, South American, Spain, Turkey, and so on. The phrase “fresh” seems all over the label, yet it can also refer to goods that have been chemically treated, freeze, or preserved for months at least! To illustrate, apples are frequently treated with 1-methylcyclopropene, a chemical that inhibits the aging process.

For example, supermarket vegetables harvested from farms are stored in containers immersed in water, allowing the fruits to rise to the surface. Damaged ‘culls’ are identified and discarded during this ‘pre-sort’ phase. Soap and chlorine are added before being washed away with hot water. Cleans and dries the fruit using a brush. The fruit is sorted and organised in trays (Class 1) or packaged machinery before being placed in crates and weighed. The fruit is loaded onto pallets and sent to cold storage, which is a sealed area where its respiration rate is slowed. Fruit for immediate consumption (November to January) is cooled to 0 degrees Celsius. In extended controlled atmosphere (CA) storage the oxygen content is then even reduced from 21% to 1.2%, putting the apples to sleep for a few months or even 12 months and more!

The apples are transported by vehicle to a central depot and subsequently to the supermarket.

E Farm aquaponics farming urban future
E-Farm in Cheras has 120 vertical towers, each holding 90 plants, totalling 10,800 plants overall.

Start buying local organic vegetables

The fresher your produce, the more vital nutrients it will keep. So, if you’re purchasing at a major supermarket or a tiny grocery, looking for items cultivated as nearby as possible is a wise decision. If you can buy locally, it means it’s travelled less and is likely to be considerably fresher, and thus the nutrients are at their peak. Moreover, buying organic vegetables from local farmers such as E-farms, where the growth of the produce are transparent. It’s therefore great to know that certain traditionally cultivated vegetables contains significantly less pesticide residue than others. Fruits and vegetables are among the commonly farmed produce with the least pesticide levels.

Grab your own organic and pesticide free vegetables now by clicking adding to cart with over more than fifty types of vegetables and fruits! The future of fresh vegetables are in the direction of urban farming that provides nutritious and tasty produce!

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