Antibiotics on fruit

[Devil's advocate]

Comments have been made about USA fruit been of better qualty than Spanish, Israel crops etc.

I prefer local as possible, I'm more than happy with Spanish or even Turkish citrus fruit.

 

[Bogweevil]

Antibiotics are applied to fruit in flower, to control fireblight, a bacterial disease of pears and to some extent apples, which causes dieback and does not affect fruit. The antibiotics are applied at blossom time, and harvest is of course three months later. The antibiotics are reported to degrade within a week and no residues have been found on harvested fruits. They won't have any effect on the quality of the fruit.

In the USA antibiotics are licensed for peach spot and for tomatoes. I don't think this usage is widespread.

The widely quoted story about a child and blueberries is surprising as antibiotics are not registered for use in blueberries.

I don't think antibiotics are used anywhere for post harvest rot control in fresh produce, where their use could affect fruit quality.

 

[Veryfruity]

Madness.

It’s not like we’re short of Antibiotic resistance.