Bahrain: Outrage Over Rotten Fruits, Vegetables in Supermarkets
Over recent weeks, shoppers have revealed that when picking out items in their weekly shops, they are met with rotten fruits and vegetables. And when buying their fresh produce, they claim that the produce turns mouldy within a couple of days, which is not a usual occurrence.
They said that they have noticed big supermarket chains in Bahrain “selling rotten fruit”, which led them to lodge complaints to the manager. Furthermore, shoppers have disclosed that when buying certain produce like strawberries, they appear mouldy much quicker than usual. Supermarket goers have also complained about the increase in price for fresh produce, especially items like bananas, with one shopper saying that they had paid over BD1 for a couple of bananas.
Despite the grave concerns about the rotten fruit, the shoppers revealed that when they went back to their usual supermarket the next week, they noticed more rotten fruit in the aisle, regardless of being told that the issue was solved.
Produce flown in from abroad tend to be less ripe, which is why they have to be ripened by gas, instead of on the vine. Ethylene gas is the most commonly used gas in this process. Although the gas has been shown to be non-toxic to humans and safe for adult humans, the use of this gas results in produce not containing the same nutritional benefits that it would have when ripening on the plant.
