In article ,
Roger Whitehead wrote:
In article , Aaron wrote:
I never
expected to see evidence of the pests that attack apples after they
have been processed and packed for market, but I was wrong.

Which just goes to show how the big food retailers have conditioned our
thinking about such produce. Most of the time, you'd never think it came
from nature.

Most consumers are appalled by visible defects from insects, weather or
disease, but usually completely unconcerned about invisible pesticide
residues. Out of sight, out of mind works well even for an emotional
issue like food -- if you've ever seen what goes on in a restaurant
kitchen or food processing plant, you'd probably do your best to suppress
the memory or else grow and cook your own from then on.

Btw, I'm as hypocritical and unreasonable as anyone else -- I eat
defective produce from my garden that I wouldn't buy from a store. Does
this mean that I trust my very own slugs more? Having put the effort
into growing it, I'm willing to cut out the bad spots. I'm much less
willing to do so for something I pay for, even though I know why it
shows no insect damage. But I seldom pay the extra for certified
organic produce. One reason it's more expensive, is that they have
lower yields of salable, i.e. cosmetically perfect, produce. The
consumer of organic produce seems to be willing to buy small or
asymmetric apples, but not visibly damaged ones. Meanwhile, large
commercial producers may discard a third of a carrot crop because the
carrots aren't straight. So it goes.