sholio | A random poll

Crossposts: https://sholio.livejournal.com/846293.html

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A random poll

I clicked on this article because of the mention of "nude" shopping - disappointingly, they are referring to vegetables, not people - but I went ahead and read it because it was interesting, and I got to this part:

A new refrigeration shelving system for displaying fresh fruit and vegetables was installed along with a process known as 'misting' to help keep items fresh.

... and I thought, wait, is that not a thing everywhere, those water sprayers to keep vegetables moist? Every grocery store I've shopped in since I was a kid had those ... I thought. Or is that only a thing we need here because it's so dry? It's the fact that the article's author felt a need to explain it that made me think these might not be so common as I had always assumed. I always assumed it was basically universal but now I'm curious.

Obviously this would not apply to places like farmer's markets where you have fresh produce in baskets and bins, just to grocery stores with a produce section.

Poll #21161

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 211

View Respondents

Does your local grocery store have water misters to keep the produce fresh?

View Answers

Yes, always
88 (41.7%)

No, I've never seen that
43 (20.4%)

Some do/some don't
77 (36.5%)

I never noticed
3 (1.4%)

Feel free to elaborate in comments.

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I don't seem to see them much any more. I remember being fascinated by them as a kid! But maybe the store I mostly shop at doesn't have them. Or something.

Oh, that's interesting that they would've actually done away with them in some places! Maybe it's a matter of different stores - someone below said that certain chains don't have them where they live.

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minim_calibre - 2019-01-20 23:30 (UTC) - Expand

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muccamukk - 2019-01-20 23:32 (UTC) - Expand

I've seen water misters in pretty much every grocery store I've ever been in, going back to some of my very first memories. I always thought it was a pretty common thing!

Me too! I guess I just assumed everywhere had them. It's interesting to see the variety of responses.

I have been sprayed by them often. I believe the stores in Ames Iowa had them (which is when I started shopping for myself, in grad school), and here in Wisconsin we have them. I don't think the Target or Walmart grocery sections have them.

Re: getting sprayed - one of our local grocery chains redid their produce section recently, and now the misters make a recorded noise that's supposed to sound like thunder/lightning right before they turn on. It kinda freaked me out the first couple of times but now I appreciate it, especially since the produce is stacked vertically now (like in the picture in that article) so it sprays on your head.

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kore - 2019-01-25 14:10 (UTC) - Expand

I know I've seen them before, but don't think they're in any supermarket I currently shop at.

I hates it! In my experience the misting actually makes the produce rot way faster.

Ewww.

You really do need it here, though, because we're so incredibly dry; without it, lettuce quickly turns into a limp pile of wilted yuck (and our big chain store really doesn't mist enough; there are times when I'll go in there and be like "welp, guess I'm not buying lettuce today" because the entire lettuce section is completely limp).

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lunabee34 - 2019-01-21 00:51 (UTC) - Expand

I have never seen that! Or never noticed it.

That article appears to be set in New Zealand.

Since I've lived in the US, they've been in every supermarket I've been in but I don't think I've ever seen one in an an English supermarket.

Not only have I never seen that, I've never even heard of it before! I'm baffled it's a thing. Why would you want your vegetables to be moist? Wouldn't they spoil faster?

It's usually things like herbs and greens that are likely to wilt.

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trobadora - 2019-01-21 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

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liz_mo - 2019-01-21 12:52 (UTC) - Expand

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trobadora - 2019-01-21 17:50 (UTC) - Expand

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kore - 2019-01-25 14:11 (UTC) - Expand

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conuly - 2019-01-25 17:38 (UTC) - Expand

I think it's a country-by-country thing? Everywhere I've lived in the US this was standard (and, in my opinion, a lot of places over-mist). When I lived in Scotland I don't remember any of the groceries having it, and it was really hard to find produce that wasn't already shrink-wrapped in plastic and styrofoam (pretty much anything the US would mist they wrapped in plastic). It drove me crazy that I moved to a place that was supposedly more environmentally friendly and significantly increased my plastic waste.

Yeah, looking at the answers it definitely looks like it's a country-by-country thing! The article is from New Zealand, and what you said about shrink-wrapped produce in plastic in Scotland makes sense with the rest of the article talking about unwrapping their veggies. That's an odd thought - you do get a few things in plastic here (e.g. bags of carrots, and bagged salad) but it's not that common. It IS weird that a more environmentally friendly country would have all their produce in plastic!

Edited 2019-01-20 22:48 (UTC)

Never ever heard of it!

I've never seen one in my life, in the UK. The only place I have seen vegetables sprayed with water is my local farmer's market, where I've seen stallholders spray their produce with a little hand sprayer like you might use on a pot plant, during the summer to discourage stuff from wilting in the sun. Never ever seen it in a supermarket.

I actually don't remember when they phased them in, or when I first noticed them, but I may have been an adult. I remember being a kid and seeing the produce guys dragging hoses with nozzles to spray the veggies that needed water to stay fresh looking.

It's a thing here in most places I think. I'm not a huge fan because they don't just mist they mist often so it becomes really wet. But what I liked in that article is the push to display vegetables without the plastic wrap -- which yes! It brings back childhood memories of going to a bazaar market with all the local farmed goods.

Are vegetables commonly wrapped in plastic there? You get a few things in plastic here (e.g. carrots in bags, though you can also get them individual from bins if you want) but most things aren't.

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sheron - 2019-01-20 23:42 (UTC) - Expand

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sholio - 2019-01-21 03:37 (UTC) - Expand

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kore - 2019-01-25 14:14 (UTC) - Expand

Never seen this, but I'm British. Didn't see it when I lived in Saigon (but that was humid) or Sardinia, Italy (which is dry).

I saw them all the time growing up in the South, and they were definitely the standard in pretty much all of the various grocery stores. Since I moved to the DC area, though, I don't see them nearly as often. Only certain grocery store chains have them up here.

Same! What is it with DC? It really seems to be 50/50 around here---Trader Joe's wraps stuff in plastic (argh), and Safeway just skips misting, with the result that their produce is usually sad-looking. I'm pretty sure Denver Safeways misted; might be down to some quirk of grocery store ownership/franchise.

Australia, and there's usually a more vertical section that has them (with things like lettuce, herbs, cucumbers) and large areas that don't. Not every supermarket has them, but I remember them back to my childhood, so that's the late 70s.

I've never seen, or indeed even heard, of misting produce in store to keep it fresh!! I'm guessing that's not a thing in the UK, or at least, not at all common.

Of course, quite a lof of produce here comes in some form of plastic wrap (not all, but quite a bit of it). One of the reasons is that plastic helps keep it fresh - but if misting does the same job, then I think we should start looking into that over here.

Edited 2019-01-20 23:09 (UTC)

I usually see them in chain grocery stores, but not in little greengrocers' shops. Some of the latter have people misting them by hand.

I realize that the reality is probably quite mundane, but the image of a little mom-and-pop shop where someone's task for the hour is to hand-mist the produce is just endlessly charming to me. Perhaps because I am imagining them talking to the food as they do, and the room is full of sunlight, and they're wearing a floral print apron. Also, they're probably a witch.

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rabid_bookwyrm - 2019-01-22 00:49 (UTC) - Expand

Only the very smallest grocery stores use some other system, which usually means the old "bucket of water" method for the greens.

Yeah, our farmer's market has the "bucket of water" thing, though we don't have any of the little sidewalk grocery type of stores that might also use it.

Edited 2019-01-21 03:37 (UTC)

I have lived the northwestern, midwestern, and southeastern US, and as far as I can recall, grocery stores had misters in all those places!

One store even played thunderstorm noises when the misters turned on.

One of our stores recently remodeled and got those! They are fun. (And a good heads-up to avoid getting sprayed.)

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kore - 2019-01-25 14:14 (UTC) - Expand

My grocery store has been experimenting with various arrangements of produce over the past couple years, which I think is an attempt to make sure they can mist the veggies that need it without over-misting the ones that don't, but they definitely have misters. I got sprayed in the face a couple times before I learned to spot them revving up.

Also, aside from bagged carrots, bagged celery, and salad mixes, the only veggies I've seen that come in plastic wrap are the specialty organic ones -- which strikes me as downright weird since that's less environmentally friendly and also you'd think people who worry about pesticide chemicals would also worry about plastic-leaching chemicals, but what do I know. *hands*

(I'm not sure whether the local co-op organic grocery (which exists, because Ithaca) uses misters or not, since I've never shopped for vegetables in any of their outposts. That would be interesting to check, actually.)

I'm surprised that people haven't seen it. I've lived all over and been to so many stores and I can't remember ever not seeing it (except...you know I'm not sure WalMart does now that I think about it)

I've totally seen misters but not in Baton Rouge. I think it's because we're already so damn humid the vegetables don't need help. But other places, sure.

Never seen, but, NZer.

I don't go to New World, but I have a feeling I've seen misters in Pak'N'Save. My local Countdown doesn't seem to have them as far as I've noticed.

But then, I usually buy from the local fruit&veg instead and skip the produce section in the supermarket.

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