What Is The White Mesh Some Grocery Stores Put On Fruit?

During my quite time, I like to watch Linna’s vlog. I noticed that some of the grocery stores she visits sell individually packaged fruit. This practice isn’t consistent throughout the different stores she frequents. I started to wonder, who is doing this and why? Turns out, you should be very specific about what your searching for.

Words Matter

My first attempt to answer this question started with the mesh bags that several fruit and vegetables are sold in. In the U.S. you may see citrus fruit and onions sold in mesh bags. This wasn’t exactly what I was referring to. I’ve yet to see an individual piece of fruit secured in a thick white mesh. So, I had to adjust my search terms. When I added “individually wrapped fruit” to my search, I was able to get closer to my answer. Also, I realized that I’m not the only person that was curious about this.

And The Reason Is…

For starters, grocery stores aren’t adding this material to the fruit in an effort to mark them up for being aesthetically pleasing. They simply sell their produce as is. This is why you may see loose produce, plastic bag produce, styrofoam tray with plastic wrap produce and hard plastic packaged produce.  The individual mesh is made of stretchy styrofoam. It’s called foam netting that’s meant for packaging. Turns out, some international farmers wrap this mesh material around their fruit while they’re still growing. During transport, the foam netting helps prevent bruising and slows spoilage.

What To Do With The Left Over Netting?

On the bright side, Foam Netting is made from recyclable material. Rather than toss it, some people are crafting with it. So, I added a few Do It Yourself tutorials.

Final Thoughts

It’s interesting what answers you can find on the internet. Sometimes, I think we take for granted the quick access with have to an immeasurable amount of information. If you were wondering why some fruit is individually wrapped, now you know. I hope you enjoyed this more light hearted Trisha’s Go In Fridays. Have a great weekend! Don’t forget to come back for Motivational Mondays with Trisha!