AU: Orange mysteriously turns purple
Angela Postle told 9news.com.au the oranges were purchased at her local Woolworths store in Chinchilla earlier this month. “I cut some up and they went in my kids’ lunchboxes for school, and I left some out because I was going to give them to my baby. I ended up making puree, so they were left in a bowl overnight, then we noticed the purple colour in the morning,” she said.
A spokesman for the unit said the oranges had already been dispatched to the Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services at Cooper Plains for further examination. No results have been returned at this time.
Mrs Postle said she took the fruit back to the grocery store, concerned the fruit posed a health risk, where she was offered a refund and told the issue would be logged.
She claimed the purple areas did not exhibit a texture or smell any different to a normal orange.
A Woolworths spokesman confirmed a customer had returned oranges to the store that showed “discolouration” but refused to comment further.
It was not clear whether the oranges were grown locally or overseas.
Andrew Harty from Citrus Australia said it was “bizarre” and likely a contamination of the blade used to cut the fruit. “That’s very, very unusual. I’ve never seen anything like that, and I’ve been in the game a long time,” he said. “An orange would never do that naturally."
Source: 9news.com.au
