What’s the Deal With Organic Bananas Wrapped in Plastic?
Have you ever noticed that sometimes organic bananas are wrapped in plastic bags, while the conventional ones aren’t? I always thought this was a method of bug protection, but it is something entirely different.
Organic bananas are wrapped in plastic because it helps speed up the ripening process. Although all bananas are shipped in their unripened green state, conventional bananas get a quick spray of an ethylene gas to accelerate their transition from green to yellow. Understandably, the organic bananas are not gassed and are instead prepackaged in plastic bags. Since bananas naturally give off ethylene gas, the bags allow the fruit to soak up the gas and turn yellow on their own. Pretty clever, huh? Too bad about the excess plastic though.
