Life after death. Products sold as fresh
British journalists shocked the public: they found out how much “fresh” products actually lie in stores.
(Total 9 photos)
Source: slon.ru
1. Fresh products are growing in price faster than others, but the very concept of "fresh" is becoming more and more elastic.
Recently, the British Daily Mail conducted an experiment: 12 samples of "fresh" fish were purchased in four hypermarkets. Examinations showed that a third of the samples were older than ten days, six were at the limit of an acceptable level (7-10 days) and only two were really fresh, that is, not older than 2-3 days.
The three-week-old fish theme went well. Data has been published according to which the "freshness" of most products on the shelf is nothing more than a myth - simply because of the delivery and processing time. Imports from agricultural countries with more favorable climates crowd out local products, and a local product can take longer to reach the shelf than an imported one.
2. Potato
British experts say that the age of the "young" potatoes can be up to seven months, in general, potatoes can be sold at the age of more than a year. In most countries (including Russia), as such, there are no requirements for the shelf life of vegetables and fruits, it is simply prohibited to trade in products with signs of decay. And potatoes, thanks to the processing that suppresses germination, really have a long shelf life. True, a period of no more than two hundred days is still considered “normal”.
3. Shrimps and seafood
The existence of fresh seafood is possible only in producing countries. Even if the product is sold under the guise of fresh, most likely it was simply thawed. So, he could swim in the sea a year ago.
4 eggs
According to Russian standards, the shelf life of an ordinary egg is 25 days, a dietary one is 7. However, a British article states that an egg can only be considered fresh for the first 10 days, after which it becomes more liquid and loses its consumer properties. In fact, a significant proportion of eggs end up on the shelf after this period or close to its end.
5. Meat
New Zealand chilled meat, popular in the UK, is at least two months old - it simply won't arrive earlier. And this is not the limit: New Zealand and Australia have developed technologies that allow you to store chilled meat for up to 180 days. Even without getting into the technology, one would suspect that frozen meat might be a better alternative.
Russia, it would seem, can exhale - we mainly import frozen meat. Of course, there is refrigeration even from such distant countries as Brazil, but it accounts for such a small share that, perhaps, meat is still delivered by air. But in any case, the terms are not magical - at least 2-3 days, which for a "fresh" product means a quick approach to the category of stale.
There is no guarantee that meat produced by local native farmers will be fresh on the shelf. In the UK, it has been calculated that meat can get there even 3-4 weeks after slaughter. It is unlikely that Russian farmers and suppliers are much faster.
6. Apples
Thanks to a substance such as methylcyclopropene, apples can be harvested while they are not yet ripe and stored for up to six months. And therefore, with urgent delivery, you can not bathe (that is, they will not bathe). In some cases, you can estimate the approximate age of an apple by understanding the varieties a little. For example, if you buy "Granny Smith" in July, then it is definitely a few months old - this variety is winter.
7. Bananas
Bananas from Latin America reach the UK in 11 days. To Russia, judging by the various offers of transport companies, the delivery time only from Ecuador to St. Petersburg can be the same, and two and a half times longer. Plus customs clearance and further logistics. No matter how beautiful and yellow the bananas on the shelf look, they are living out their last days, if they have not already exceeded all expiration dates.
8. Milk
Milk is delivered to the dairy from the farm only after a certain treatment that cleans it from bacteria and regulates fat content. It can take several days before it reaches the dairy. Total: even if today's date is on the package, milk is at least two days old. Here we hardly differ from the UK.
9. Vegetables
And finally, fresh vegetables. With all the variety, their shelf life is 7-14 days. If a salad from Spain gets to the UK in only 4 days, then imagine how much it will take him to get to Russia.
What conclusion can be drawn from this? Definitely not the one that humanity will see clearly and return, for example, to freezing - in this case, the product was fresh at least at the time of processing. If the climate on the planet does not change or transport services suddenly become cheaper, the production of pseudo-fresh products will develop and acquire new technologies. We still have a lot of vegetables and fruits that are sold in the season in the old fashioned way (for example, zucchini, apricots or cherries). There is room for development.