Why would someone at the grocery store pick up a fruit or vegetable to smell it and touch it to their nose?

Question

I saw a person do this to several pieces and decided right then and there that I need to wash my produce more thoroughly before I use it. I found it quite unsettling that people do that. I know a lot of dirty hands handle produce but this just seemed inappropriate. How would you feel about it ?

I've actually done quite well picking out fruit and vegetables by color and firmness. I don't place anything against my nose and take a big whiff. I guess if someone does it, its not much different from touching with dirty hands. Its just the actual sight of it being done that I felt the need to wash my produce " more thoroughly." The nose brings to mind more germs to me, like cold germs, etc, but I'm sure the hands have just as many if not more and thats why it sent me into great thought about it. I just wanted to know what you thought.

Answer 1

They are smelling the fruit or vegetable because that is the best way to tell if it is properly ripe. A tomato or peach for example -- they might look beautifully ripe, but if they don't have a good tomato-y or peachy smell, they will be completely tasteless. Same for melons, pineapples, and a lot of others. You can't tell just by looking.

That's only one of the reasons you should thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables before eating them. Trust me -- they will have been dropped on the floor, touched by countless people, mixed in with moldy fruit, not to mention pesticides on the skin, before they end up in your shopping basket.

Answer 2

The answer to why people do this is simple, to see how fresh it is, different sents of the fruit and vegetables can allow the buyer to know how fresh/unfresh it is. I used to work at a produce stand, and a smell can tell you if it is starting to go bad, if it is ripe, or if it is almost ripe. It does have a purpose, and I would be far more worried about the dirty people touching it than smelling it, because most things are grown in manure, and many people handle it before it gets to the store. With under half of the population washing their hands after using the facilities, I would make sure to be washing everything thoroughly!.

Answer 3

I smell fruit and veggies like that to make sure that no one has rubbed it on their bad places. I wouldn't want to buy produce that someone got freaky with!
Really though, how else are you supposed to tell if a peach is ripe other than fragrance. Many fruits and veggies have different aromas at different stages of ripeness. Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know that without smelling of it before buying and eating it.
I grew up raising produce in a very large garden and sold most of it. If you think that someone smelling what they are considering buying is in poor taste you deserve the stuff they put back on the shelf. Obviously you wouldn't know the difference.
I do recommend washing all fruit and veggies before consumption, and find it hard to believe that people would need to be told that. By the way, "organic" means no ARTIFICIAL or CHEMICAL fertilizers or pesticides. Organic produce is usually fertilized with MANURE and compost. Bon apatite!

Answer 4

This is normal and in fact in order to get the best and ripest fruit of some kinds you need to smell it.

You should thoroughly wash any fruit you buy because of pesticides and the handlers.

The produce handlers don't wear gloves and they can easily wipe their nose on their hand and then put your apple out on the shelf.

ALWAYS WASH YOUR FRESH FRUIT!!!!

Answer 5

well its to check if the fruit is ripe and no its not bad people put there hands all over it all the time thats why you wash it, wash your produce or ull be doomed and i would be a lot more worried about hands than noses

Answer 6

confident they even have specific washes for culmination and vegetables. even if if human beings didnt touch the fruit, those culmination regularly sit down in a grimy production unit or warehouse for awhile. I keep in mind dateline did slightly on those factories and it became into soooo disgusting. Rats in each and every single place, human beings utilising the loos and not washing their palms then loading up the fruit. it rather is ideal to truly wash your fruit actual good previously you eat them. Vinegar and water is a good wash too... WOW human beings truly squeeze the bread. Yeah that would annoy me too. i think of all and sundry is attempting to truly look at their nutrition yet they fail to understand they're bing thoughtless. a guy became into arrested as quickly as for squeezing each and every of the snack tarts at a food market. He became into obsessive compulsive so they enable him circulate. wager we merely could cope.

Answer 7

Smelling fruit is a pretty common way to determine ripeness. I think that washing your fruit is a good idea.

Answer 8

I would think this person is looking for a good piece of fruit and doesn't have a very good sense of smell so he or she ends up putting it very close to smell what he or she can.

Answer 9

I've seen this numerous times too but what am I supposed to do about it? The only thing I can do is wash what I buy very thoroughly before I cook or eat it, which is what I do anyway.

Answer 10

That's just what nasties do. You should always make sure to wash your fruit extremely well. I mean, touching their nose to it could be the least of your worries. What if they have the clap, and used the bathroom without washing their hands...then touched the fruit, put it back, and you got it!?! That would be pretty gross, eh?