As revealed in a recent segment on Today Tonight and in a special investigation by The Sun Herald newspaper.Dr Steven Morris, of Sydney Postharvest Laboratory, tested 2000 pieces of fruit and vegetables bought in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for a Today Tonight study. They also tested samples provided by The Sun-Herald for a separate report.
The average age was three months, some a year, and some up to two years old. Even more of a shock is the industry confirmed the poorer quality, older produce is sent to the lower-income suburbs.
Quality of fruit was assessed by measuring the apples firmness and levels of ethylene, a natural plant hormone that occurs during the fruit-ripening process. Cold storage slows the aging process down, but the older the fruit, the more ethylene there is.
Broadcaster Alan Jones has been waging a fierce two-year campaign against supermarkets claiming fruit is "fresh" when it is old and inferior.
"Everyday pick up every paper, the food is advertised as fresh food. It's not fresh food. The apples that people buy in January were picked last February," he said.
"When you tell people it's fresh food, and it's not fresh food, that's dishonest advertising, and you should be prosecuted accordingly," he said.
"They should be made to advertise this fruit was picked last February. Then see if people would buy it."
But Dr Graeme Samuel, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said the ACCC is about to crack down on untrue claims that fruit is fresh as misleading or downright false.
"What is absolutely clear is that if the product is sold specifically as being fresh when in fact it has been frozen, has been subjected to injection of preservatives, been altered in someway and it is not straight off the vine ... then we think that is potentially misleading," Dr Samuel said.
"If a fruit has been someway treated, subjected to preservatives, put into a cold store, frozen, snap frozen, whatever it might be, it's no longer fresh," he said.
"We would say that was a real potential to breach Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act."
Of course, if you don’t want to be eating fruit and vegetables that may have been in storage for many months, then fresh organic produce is your best option. However, it does mean that you need to make seasonal choices.
Fresh organic foods are produced in rhythm with the sun and seasons.
For food to be truly organic it cannot be available year round. Only an artificial growing environment, which generally means the application of chemicals and/or preservatives, or importing can guarantee year-round supply.
At Flannerys we source the best available Certified Organic produce with a focus on local producers. As we all eagerly await the changing of the seasons, we invite you to enjoy the great tastes of fresh food made the way nature intended – in rhythm with our planet.