OK here is the scoop on oranges. Sunkist, California's premium brand of
navel oranges do not use pesticides. There is one bug that attacks them and
that is controlled with a good bug. Occasionally the good bug leaves a
scaly patch on the orange, and this becomes a second and receives something
other than the Sunkist trademark even though the fruit is the same, just a
little less pretty.

Navel oranges also have an interesting thing happen to them. They start
out green, turn bright orange when ripe and if left on the tree they will
start to re-green. The oranges that re-green are not stamped with the
Sunkist brand but rather the second label. A little bit of re-green however
does not diminish the quality of the fruit. The farmer is gambling leaving
the fruit on the tree longer hoping the price will rise

All oranges are coated with a food grade wax that is non toxic and keeps the
fruit from drying out and keeps it looking shiny and attractive.

As far as I know no oranges are dyed.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.


"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
. ..
I'd always thought that California oranges, primarily for eating, were
the pretty ones, and Florida oranges, primarily for juicing, were the
ones with uneven color and green shades. I'd never heard it had
anything to do with dyes. And if there is something cancer-causing or
possibly cancer-causing in something they put on the outside of an
orange, with the laws as strict as they are in California, wouldn't
there be warnings all over?


A fairly distinct line between green and orange on a Florida orange
could be caused by the way the sun hits the orange as it ripens.


--Lia