Grape experience in winter in CA Beware of Costco

March 10, 2012

I am telling you all this as a cautionary tale. You have to careful and

read labels really well and it's getting trickier. Your VM smoothie

could contain more than you want it to.

Thursday I made our usual trip to Costco. I like their fresh fruits and

veggies as most are labeled organic and are often fresher than my local

grocery (think it is due to the rapid turnover of product). Anyhow, I

got organic celery, asparagus, tomatoes and other items. I also picked

up some really nice looking Globe grapes. I knew they were from Peru,

but there are several products at Costco from Peru which are Organic and

you can't get grapes grown in Calif at this time of year. The next

morning, having stored stuff and gone to a meeting Thur night, I got the

grapes to wash and put in small bags for husband and son to grab (gets

them to eat more fruit). I noticed there was in small print on the

label-Wash Carefully , grapes treated with fungicide Sulfur Dioxide. I

opened the carton to look and when I slid the cardboard sleeve to one

side to look, I noticed a sticker which read, Packed Jan 12, 2012. Now,

considering Thurs was March 8, I was a bit shocked. The grapes looked

fine, fresh as can be..

Needless to say, I took them back to Costco, very unhappy. Now it gets

strange. The guy at the returns counter looks and says, Oh, don't worry,

I know, they aren't sweet. I said, Nope, that is not it. I said, look

they contain Sulfur Dioxide, which is both carcinogenic and very

dangerous to asthmatics. He said, no problem, I'll refund your money. I

said, Wait, that is not all. Look at this date, under the sleeve, hidden

to view until you take the sleeve off (which by implication is not done

until you get it home), they were packed in Jan and it's now March! He

looks at the label, gets this surprised look and then looks at the

grapes and says, How can they be that fresh at that age???? Indulgent I

pointed again to the Sulfur Dioxide label and said to him, Do you really

want to eat grapes so well preserved that 2 months after they are packed

they look this good? He said, Nope, here's your money. Note I said that

was the PACKED date, not the pick date, who knows when they were picked.

Lesson learned:

Read labels better before purchase.

Don't trust Peru Grapes (online research reveals that Sulfur Dioxide was

outlawed in all fresh food EXCEPT grapes and wine! and is still allowed

in dried fruits)

Maybe give up grapes until they come back into season here in the USA.

Velda

March 10, 2012

Here is another shocker for you. My mother bought some apples when she was up

here visiting recently-just grabbed one randomly out of a bin of normal looking

apples (I have yet to convince my mother to go organic-just NOT going to happen)

When she started slicing up the apple that night, I became aware of a very

chemical, odd, kool aid like grape smell, and even my mother noticed that the

smell wasn't normal (I am chemically sensitive, so usually aware of smells that

others don't pick up on) She tasted the apple, and said it tasted like grape

kool aid-it smelled VILE! We went back to the store, and talked to the produce

manager, who informed us they were a " new " type of apple called a grapple, that

were " cross bred " with grapes, and he insisted that it was " natrual " grapes. I

informed him that GRAPPLES were NOT a cross breed between real grapes, but

artificially, chemically, and genetically modified-he was the produce manager

and didn't even know this! They had put those nasty things right out with

" normal " apples like they belonged there. It looked exactly the same as the

apples in the other bins, but here it is totally altered from being anywhere

remotely close to " natural " or normal! It is things such as this that lead me

to learn to garden and grow my own stuff!

March 10, 2012

Indeed, it is getting more difficult to find " real food " . Husband just

agreed to let me get 2 of the Gardeners Supply self watering plant

growing system so we can grow both tomatoes and peppers more easily,

without having to practically dynamite the back yard to break through

the clay soil. Slowly I am getting him into container gardens so we can

grow much more of our own food. Much better that way, then I can go on

the porch, pick and make my own smoothies!

Velda

On 3/10/2012 8:07 PM, wrote:

> Here is another shocker for you. My mother bought some apples when she was up