AIBU to think people are being childish and foolish to think smelling produce is gross?

[UrslaB]

Okay, this has really caught me off guard. In another thread the act of sniffing produce (tomatoes) to check for freshness and quality was mentioned, and some people then responded that this was in some way weird. Puking emojis and hysterical exclamations that people should keep their noses away from food in the supermarket and that this is why they buy pre-packed produce soon followed.

Are people sniffing/smelling in some strange manner that makes it weird that I am unfamiliar with? A good sniff isn't sneezing on it and you should be washing your fruit and veg when you get it home anyway considering it is naive to think someone sniffing it (or squeezing it) is the worst thing to happen to the produce before you get it home. (Pickers/suppliers/packers, shop staff and a half dozen other hands handling it before you potentially, less than spotless machinery harvesting or transporting, being dropped, potential pests in Distribution and storage centers, pesticides, fertilizers, etc etc.)

To me this seems like hyperbolic hysteria. How else do you discover if fruit is good quality if you don't examine it visually, handle it and with some things like tomatoes and melons, give it a good sniff! Otherwise, you could be buying subpar food.

Always sniff tomatoes, peaches, pineapples, melons etc by the stem looking for a sweetish scent to know it is going to taste good. No scent, no taste. Also, giving veg and bread a squeeze, and meat a poke I thought was standard procedure. At least that is what I was taught growing up.

Is it a lost skill? Snobbery? What is causing such a reaction to something I consider good practice?

AIBU to think it is childish and foolish to react so negatively to the idea of someone sniffing their produce?

You can tell whether strawberries are ones that look good but are hard and bitter or ones that will be sweet and flavourful by sniffing them. It only applies to some soft fruit though. I’m not going to go round sniffing courgettes or broccoli! Also, I don’t need my nose to touch produce to be able to smell it! With all the toddlers and small children, with snotty, sticky hands (and worm eggs under their nails), that touch trollies and food packaging and you’re worried about someone breathing in near fruit!

I learned to smell produce in France and they know a bit about food. It is the only way to know what you're buying will be nice to eat.

Loving the idea that someone handling/sniffing food in the supermarket is the worst thing that will have happened to things that grew on a farm and have been transported halfway round the world

I'd never buy fresh tomatoes without checking they smelt fab. It's not just filler, it's food!

And all those fruit pickers and those packing and transporting the fruit and those who stack the shelves obviously scour their hands before touching anything

😂

People are weird on here about germs/hygiene. I imagine them all in houses in 14 shades of grey hanging on Mrs Hinch's every word and fastidiously wiping everything with anti-bac

same as you OP. Grandparents grew veg and tomatoes when I was a child and I have warm memories of it. Salad tomatoes in supermarkets have no taste or smell but if you smell a tomato still on its vine it smells as it tastes.. perfect
Same with strawberries, berries, peaches etc. I also shake Cox apples to see if they rattle. If they do its the pips inside and it means they are ripe. I get funnier looks at doing this rather than my smelling 😁

The pickers and packers must do it whilst holding their breath then?

Erm, sniffing is the only bit that doesn’t involve breathing out. People’s breath is all over the shop from the time they’re not sniffing.

You get sick because the pathogens have been able to multiply to unsafe levels. When we cook food, we are only cooking to 75 degrees to keep these pathogens at safe levels. Meat past its use by date will often lead to the bacteria releasing exotoxins, which are mostly heat resistant. So even after cooking the meat the toxins still remain and will make you sick. I'm an EHO and have some of the highest training in microbiology contamination. Eating meat especially, after its use by date, is a risk and you absolutely cannot tell if it has been contaminated by food poisoning bacteria/food borne disease or toxins... until you are very ill.

It’s hilarious when people just comment “grim” but provide no insight into why they think that.

To me that’s saying you don’t want other peoples “germs” on your food, ergo you don’t wash your food before you prepare it. That is the definition of grim. Breathing IN to check the state of that item… nope.

You’d be aghast if you knew where the fruit and veg pickers went wee wee.

I’m always amazed by the number of people who say they don’t wash grapes before eating them.

I only sniff melons but I squeeze peaches and avocados. I can usually judge tomatoes visually though…I’m very fussy about tomatoes.

It's no more grim than touching it, although I'd probably prefer there weren't huge numbers of people handling my food before me in general.

Where yabu is your snobby and patronising attitude towards people who haven't had the upbringing you have. Sorry, no my parents didn't teach me how to identify quality produce from their home grown garden, because I grew up in a house where you were fed a 10p tin of basics brand ravioli for dinner and we lived in a room over a stable with one bed for mum and two kids.

I have family who grow their own tomatoes. For the past few weeks they’ve been handing out bags of them.

I find it weird (and sad) that people are disgusted by other people smelling fresh produce.

it's about the most natural human behaviour going.

although I think I've had an epiphany about what my 'secret' is for producing tasty meals, I've never understood why people think my food always tastes great as until now I've not thought I'm doing anything special. Are other people really bunging any old spongy tomato in a salad or ragu? Bonkers.

and for the poster who thinks there's some sort of genuine cut off best before date on meat based on anything more scientific than the labelling machine automatically banging on packing date plus five days. Hahahahahahahaha

why have we become so dim about food unless it comes in a packet within a date on it. It's got to be mother nature's way of attempting to reduce the population.

It is a hill I will die on tbh that 1 day wouldn't make a difference.

Again. What do people do if it doesn't have a sticker on.

Isn't it actually that the "grim" and "vom" people are being snobby or Whateber that would be called. Op isn't, it's reaction to being called grim for inhaling air near produce

That's your choice I guess, I'm just there to endure the public are sold food that is safe to eat. What they do beyond that their choice, although food poisoning is horrendous!
I'd question if there was no sticker. They must have a use by date, at least if you ask them, otherwise I'd be questioning it and necessary, reporting it.

No, for me the 'I just don't understand why you wouldn't!' faux naivety where OP seemingly doesn't understand that a lot of people don't have access to food education or even any fresh food in the first place, that is snobby.

I realised we weren't even originally talking about dates and I stupidly for unknown to me reason put them in😂

My dad grew up in a family where they turned part of their council house garden into an allotment because it was cheaper than buying the stuff. His cousin still grows some veg on the balcony of his council flat. It is about what you grow up with but it’s not automatically linked to income or class.

To be honest I didn’t realise it worked with so many different varieties 😳

I have been known to pull out all the different names varieties of strawberries on offer and give them a sniff through the holes in packaging to find the sweetest one. Pleased to say I was shopping with a friend and she now does it too. It’s a game changer!

When you buy lose produce you don't get a use by date or in meat from the butcher?

I don't think an out of date apple or tomato is going to do anyone any harm and that's what the thread was about.

It's because most people are idiots when it comes to "germs", our food chain, and the natural world. If it's not wrapped in plastic and liberally sprayed with pesticides, if it's a slightly odd shape or has a small mark it's no good.

There is a vast spectrum of quality in between edible and good to eat.