Canadian grocery store is in hot water over pre-peeled avocados
Don't mess with the Internet's avocados.
A woman was shopping at her local Sobey's grocery store in Thornhill, Ontario when she spotted pre-peeled, halved avocados on sale.
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The friend of the shopper, Christine Kizik, posted about the avocados on the grocery store's Facebook page, saying she was "surprised and disappointed" that the store would stock a product with seemingly unnecessary packaging.
"Avocado's have their own perfect, compostable, wrapping. Adding packaging to an avocado is strange to say the least. This is wasteful and I'm curious about the reasoning," Kizik wrote.
Much like the pre-peeled oranges controversy at a UK Whole Foods earlier in March, the prepped produce, while taking on the extra, non-biodegradable packaging material that can be harmful to the planet, is also helpful to customers with disabilities or conditions like arthritis.
Opening plastic packaging can also be troublesome, as some commenters on the post pointed out.
However, Sobeys did not mention accessibility, per se, for these customers in its response to Kizik on Facebook.
Instead, Sobeys said, that the packaging "was developed for people who might be new to using avocados and for a little more convenience. It eliminates the guess work when it comes to ripeness and any challenges if you are not familiar with peeling and seeding a fresh avocado."
The grocery store also mentioned that the packaging was "there to keep the fresh wholesome appearance and quality of the avocado without it browning prior to consumption."
It should be noted that plastic packaging, while somewhat effective at helping prevent foods from spoiling, is not a failsafe against it.
The extra packaging also packs on a heftier price tag of $3.99 CAD ($2.99 USD), which can arguably be more than buying avocados au naturale depending on where you shop.
Pre-packaged foods have been widely available in many countries for years, but it seems more recent that people have been voicing their outrage about them. Produce like pineapple and watermelon, which are inconvenient for most people and are not single-serve foods, are often sold pre-cut, and yet many consumers are not put off by their packaging.
However, when it comes to foods like avocados, oranges or even bananas, which have inedible peels and are naturally single-serving, seeing these foods seems to spark a debate.
Many people have sided with Kizik on the issue, citing the environmental concerns and the deeper price tag being not worth the convenience.
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Andrea Romano -- comedy writer, craft enthusiast, lady -- was a Watercooler Reporter. She worked as an intern at Mashable beginning in January 2014. Andrea recently completed her Masters degree in Media Studies and Film from The New School and writes sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade and The People's Improv Theatre. She once watched three Paul Rudd movies in a row on a bicoastal flight and didn't realize it until she landed. She does things like that a lot. Twitter: @theandrearomano
