You pick up an apple, peel off the little sticker, give it a good wash and take a bite. Seems perfectly fine, right?Well, there’s one extra step India’s food safety regulator wants you to follow.The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has advised consumers not to simply remove stickers from fruits and vegetables and wash the produce. Instead, it says the skin or the portion where the sticker was placed should be peeled or cut away before eating.The reason? The adhesive used to stick those tiny labels to the produce can leave residue behind.So, what should you actually do?It’s pretty simple.If there’s a sticker on your apple, orange, avocado or any other fruit, remove it first. Then peel the skin or cut away the small patch where the sticker was attached.You don’t need to throw away the fruit. And there’s no need to panic if you’ve already eaten a stickered fruit after simply washing it.The advice is essentially about taking an extra precaution and avoiding direct consumption of any residue that may be left behind.
Why are fruits covered in stickers anyway?
Those little labels are something most of us barely notice, especially when doing our weekly grocery shopping.But they’re there for a reason. Fruit stickers can carry codes used by retailers to identify the produce and its price. Depending on the product and retailer, they may also provide other information about the fruit.What they aren’t, however, is edible packaging.So even if the sticker comes off easily, it’s better not to assume that the surface underneath is completely free of adhesive.
Is washing the fruit not enough?
Washing your fruits and vegetables is still important. But in the case of produce that has had a sticker stuck directly onto its skin, FSSAI’s advice is to go one step further.Remove the sticker and then peel or cut away the area where it was stuck.For something like an apple, that’s easy enough. If you’re eating the fruit without peeling it, simply cutting off that small patch is another option.
Why the sticker maybe harmful?
Don’t panic.If you’ve ever discovered halfway through eating an apple that the tiny sticker has somehow vanished, you’re certainly not aloneDo you need to throw the fruit away?No.A sticker doesn’t mean the entire fruit is unsafe. Once you’ve removed the label, simply peel or cut off the area where it was attached.And yes, you should still wash the fruit properly before eating it and that’s because the glue in the sticker maybe harmful for your health.The next time you’re about to bite into that supermarket apple, take a second look at the sticker. Peel it off, remove the small stickered patch and then eat the fruit.It’s a tiny extra step. But when it comes to something you eat, it doesn’t hurt to be a little careful.
