Why do some people do this (eat grapes) at grocery stores?

[VacationForever]

We were shopping at Whole Foods yesterday and saw some nice looking green grapes (Anthony Organics) and was about to pick a bag up when a guy came up. He managed to open up a bag - bag had a Ziploc kind of enclosure, picked out a couple of grapes, then closed it back, and popped the grapes into his mouth while he walked away. I went ahead and got my bag of grapes while I went on a rant with my husband.

I see this everywhere, people just wanting to eat a couple of grapes and with absolutely no intention of buying. I don't even try out a grape to see if it is sweet before buying.

PS. These grapes that I bought yesterday were sweet and delicious.

 

[dioxide45]

We were shopping at Whole Foods yesterday and saw some nice looking green grapes (Anthony Organics) and was about to pick a bag up when a guy came up. He managed to open up a bag - bag had a Ziploc kind of enclosure, picked out a couple of grapes, then closed it back, and popped the grapes into his mouth while he walked away. I went ahead and got my bag of grapes while I went on a rant with my husband.

I see this everywhere, people just wanting to eat a couple of grapes and with absolutely no intention of buying. I don't even try out a grape to see if it is sweet before buying.

PS. These grapes that I bought yesterday were sweet and delicious.

I also saw this at the bulk bins of our local Fresh Thyme a couple weeks ago. Kids, with an adult, going around and eating some of the bulk candy (chocolate almonds, malt balls, etc). I didn't see any sign saying "free samples".

 

[Panina]

We were shopping at Whole Foods yesterday and saw some nice looking green grapes (Anthony Organics) and was about to pick a bag up when a guy came up. He managed to open up a bag - bag had a Ziploc kind of enclosure, picked out a couple of grapes, then closed it back, and popped the grapes into his mouth while he walked away. I went ahead and got my bag of grapes while I went on a rant with my husband.

I see this everywhere, people just wanting to eat a couple of grapes and with absolutely no intention of buying. I don't even try out a grape to see if it is sweet before buying.

PS. These grapes that I bought yesterday were sweet and delicious.

I can understand tasting only one but not more. Too many times I have purchased grapes, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc and they are horrible. When I can I return them but more often then not they get thrown in the garbage.

 

[Theiggy]

I don’t get it either? I am guilty of tasting 1 grape or blueberry before buying because I hate sour fruit! I wish I could taste clementines because I always get a big bag and many times they are sour!!!

But I don’t get eating a few like they are free! It’s not a buffet!


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[Icc5]

When I worked for a major grocery chain we encouraged you to try a grape or two because we felt we had good product and it encouraged you to buy. About 20 years ago we offered you to try anything and we would cut produce for you to try it. I didn't agree but if you wanted to taste (say a certain ice cream) we would let you and then we were told to give samples of the ice cream till it ran out. All done to capture extra sales.
There are always going to be people that spoil things for others such as a jerk that would have you open all kinds of things without any intent of buying anything.
Bart

 

[VacationForever]

I can understand tasting only one but not more. Too many times I have purchased grapes, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc and they are horrible. When I can I return them but more often then not they get thrown in the garbage.

But this guy had NO intention of buying. He took the grapes, sealed it back and started walking away before popping the grapes into his mouth.

 

[geekette]

I can understand tasting only one but not more. Too many times I have purchased grapes, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc and they are horrible. When I can I return them but more often then not they get thrown in the garbage.

yep, I have this situation now. seedless red grapes that are bitter. darn it. I should have tasted one.

I was brought up to "not touch" and certainly "tasting" from any bulk bin with my bare fingers would have gotten my fingers chopped off to assuage Mom's horror at the behavior.

 

[DaveNV]

When I was eight or nine years old I snagged a couple of grapes while walking through the produce aisle of a local grocery store. I got hauled into the office and accused of shoplifting! They made a HUGE production out of it, "We're going to call the police!" and whatever else. Scared the crap out of me. (Which I think was their intention.) They finally let me go, but I figured I was scarred for life. I never set foot in that store again, even as an adult. I remember smiling many years later when I learned they had gone out of business.

Dave

 

[DeniseM]

I think it's gross - I hate all those dirty hands touching food that they have no intention of buying. With grapes, I always choose a sealed bag way in the back, because the ones in front have been stripped of all of the top grapes. Besides eating food they haven't purchased, I also I see kids running their hands through bins of beans and other dry bulk items - like they were playing in the sand box. The parents just ignore them.

 

[easyrider]

I won't eat unwashed produce so I don't sample them ever. I really don't mind if others do. I think many people do sample produce and it wouldn't surprise me if for example the grapes were not as expected the person would walk away without buying them. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone tasting grapes out of different bags to see if there were some they liked.

Bill

 

[Talent312]

I wouldn't think of opening a bag to sample a grape.
I prefer to grab a marinated olive off the salad buffett.
.

 

[klpca]

It has never occurred to me to try fruit - because it is unwashed. I just wouldn't/could't lol. I roll the dice regarding taste - most of the time it's fine.

My daughter recently visited friends who moved to another state. She stayed with them for a long weekend. That's when she discovered that they don't wash any of their produce. Ever. She was horrified. We're no germaphobes, but we do wash produce. Every time.

 

[jehb2]

I use to taste the grapes before I purchased them when I was younger. Now the thought totally grosses me out. I may as well sample some pesticide. That said I spent $10.00 on grapes at Costco last week and had to toss the whole carton in the trash the next day. They tasted bad. I know I could have taken them back. Sometimes I do but I didn’t feel like it. So two days later I decided to spend the money and buy some grapes at Randells. They weren’t bad. But they weren’t good either. If I had sampled them I certainly wouldn’t have purchased them. I sample the bulk food trail mix items when I can’t decide which one I want. But I know my store encourages you to do so.

 

[pedro47]

I can understand tasting only one but not more. Too many times I have purchased grapes, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc and they are horrible. When I can I return them but more often then not they get thrown in the garbage.

Ditto, We like to sample one or two grapes, cherries or blueberries to avoid those bad tasting ones in the bag.

We always wash our fruit under water before eating any fruit or veggies.

 

[Bucky]

If the flavor didn’t change so often between trips to the store I probably wouldn’t think of tasting one before purchase. BUT, far too many times I’ve gotten home and they were terrible. Just not gonna play the buy and return and buy and return again game. There are far more things I’m worried about than picking up some disease from tasting one unwashed grape!

 

[SmithOp]

I think it's gross - I hate all those dirty hands touching food that they have no intention of buying. With grapes, I always choose a sealed bag way in the back, because the ones in front have been stripped of all of the top grapes. Besides eating food they haven't purchased, I also I see kids running their hands through bins of beans and other dry bulk items - like they were playing in the sand box. The parents just ignore them.

Kids bother me the most, little germ magnets, lol. I was at a sandwich place over the weekend waiting for my order and two young girls were running their fingers around the tops of all the soda cans in the display case. Their mother was placing her order and not paying attention to them, the clerk was oblivious too. I told them to stop because people had to drink from the cans, I said it in a nice way. Of course they ran to mom to say the grumpy old man yelled at them, and I got dirty looks until my sandwich arrived and I could finally leave. Glad I just got a bottled water.


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[Passepartout]

I can see I'm swimming against the tide here, but I don't see a big deal with testing a couple of grapes (that are labeled as organic- so shouldn't have been sprayed). He may have gone off to find his shopping partner to suggest buying a bag of them. I wasn't there, and don't generally condone rampant 'sampling' of food left open for selection, but this seems pretty innocuous. If I had bought the bag that had been 'sampled' and got home with them and found a couple of grapes missing from the bunch, I would be rinsing them anyway, so no big deal. They are sold by weight anyway. I'm not paying for the ones the guy sampled.

 

[Kel]

I will touch grapes to see if they are firm and I will taste one or two in the store to see if they are sweet before I buy a bunch. Someone sampling a few grapes and walking away doesn't bother me. Maybe they weren't good. It bothers me when I think about all the produce I have bought through the years that I have to toss out because it isn't sweet, it doesn't ripen or it's just bad. Sometimes you just can't tell until you cut it or bite into it. Once in a while I will return bad produce if I have time or if I need to go back to the store because I need the produce for a get together. But, 95% I just toss it ($$) in the trash. My Stater Bros. grocery store produce people still suggest tasting produce if I want to. They have cut open exotic fruits for me to taste on several occasions.

 

[bluehende]

I can see I'm swimming against the tide here, but I don't see a big deal with testing a couple of grapes (that are labeled as organic- so shouldn't have been sprayed). He may have gone off to find his shopping partner to suggest buying a bag of them. I wasn't there, and don't generally condone rampant 'sampling' of food left open for selection, but this seems pretty innocuous. If I had bought the bag that had been 'sampled' and got home with them and found a couple of grapes missing from the bunch, I would be rinsing them anyway, so no big deal. They are sold by weight anyway. I'm not paying for the ones the guy sampled.

I am with you. Trying a grape isn't high on my list of crimes or annoyances. It never occurred to me as I would have considered it as stealing. I hate to waste food ( I am sure a factor of my age) so throw very few things out. One thing I would like to state is that organic does not mean not sprayed. It means that they may be sprayed with organic pesticides. As an old biochemist we had a project called natural products. The thought was that they could be used for organic growers. We found a ton of very good pesticides from our natural extracts. When the toxicity tests came back we dropped the project. Since some of the most deadly compounds known to man come from fungi I have no problem having my produce sprayed with a fungicide. As much as I would not like to eat fertilizer it is no less appetizing than the natural fertilizers.

 

[DeniseM]

Here's the other thing - There is no way to sterilize grapes or other produce that you eat uncooked, so I am also concerned about all the germs and bacteria that dirty hands may leave behind. At my local grocery store, the bags of grapes in the front of the display literally have all the grapes from the top of the bag missing - like 20 grapes, so I know that many dirty hands have been in the bags.

As someone who had a bad case of food poisoning 18 months ago, I am vigilant about food contamination. I use the anti-bacterial wipes at the grocery store entrance to clean the grocery cart handle, and I wash my hands when I get home, before I put away my groceries. So, I certainly don't want to buy produce that has been handled by multiple dirty hands at the grocery store.

*Yes, I know that produce is handled in the field and during packaging - I grew up on a farm so I understand all of that, but that doesn't make it acceptable for more dirty hands to touch it in the store. YMMV

 

[VacationForever]

Here's the other thing - There is no way to sterilize grapes or other produce that you eat uncooked, so I am also concerned about all the germs and bacteria that dirty hands may leave behind. At my local grocery store, the bags of grapes in the front of the display literally have all the grapes from the top of the bag missing - like 20 grapes, so I know that many dirty hands have been in the bags.

As someone who had a bad case of food poisoning 18 months ago, I am vigilant about food contamination. I use the anti-bacterial wipes at the grocery store entrance to clean the grocery cart handle, and I wash my hands when I get home, before I put away my groceries. So, I certainly don't want to buy produce that has been handled by multiple dirty hands at the grocery store.

*Yes, I know that produce is handled in the field and during packaging - I grew up on a farm so I understand all of that, but that doesn't make it acceptable for more dirty hands to touch it in the store. YMMV

+1

 

[heathpack]

I’m also in the “This feels like no big deal to me”. Maybe it’s because I’m a veterinarian and am exposed to germs and bacteria all day long. Plus I understand my body is covered with germs literally inside and out so what’s a few more?

Not to minimize the idea that people should generally try to keep their germs to themselves. But honestly, it you’re out and about in the world, you’re going to be exposed. I get that and it doesn’t creep me out to the extent it creeps a lot of people out.

Then again, I’m the girl who has stuck my arm to the shoulder up the butt of lots of cows. So you really can’t be too squeamish after doing stuff like that.

 

[Kel]

heathpack. LOL. That's a butt load of germs compared to grabbing a few grapes.

 

[Jan M.]

It has never occurred to me to try fruit - because it is unwashed. I just wouldn't/could't lol. I roll the dice regarding taste - most of the time it's fine.

My daughter recently visited friends who moved to another state. She stayed with them for a long weekend. That's when she discovered that they don't wash any of their produce. Ever. She was horrified. We're no germaphobes, but we do wash produce. Every time.

My husband made fun of me for being horrified first time I saw him eat a piece of unwashed fruit. Then the first time after we were married that we visited my great aunt she had just gotten home from the store before we got there. As she unpacked everything the fruits and vegetables all went into the sink to get washed before she put them away. DH said so your whole family has this obsession?

My father was the produce manager for a grocery store when I was a kid. It certainly reinforced what his mother and grandmother taught them when he was growing up. My grandmother's father had a store when she was growing up and her family briefly lived in California. They saw the fruits and vegetables being picked and knew the only bathrooms were right there in the fields. She and her siblings were raised not to eat unwashed fruits and vegetables. Five generations later we still teaching that in our family. However if it is out of your own garden and you didn't use any sprays or powders there is nothing better than talking the salt shaker out to the garden, picking and eating a sun warmed ripe tomato!

When and where I grew up, there are a lot of fruit farms and they bring in migrant workers to pick the fruit. TB is still a problem with the migrant workers. Anyone who listens to or reads the news is aware of the e-coli outbreaks. If you've ever experienced a food born illness or had some one close to you have one, Duh! Then there are the parasites that can be picked up from eating unwashed fruits and vegetables. They can all be life threatening.

 

[heathpack]

Well... it’s not like you’re going to sterilize raw fruits and vegetables by a brief rinse in cold water. Long rinsing time (like 2-3 minutes), followed by rubbing the bacteria off the surface by drying each piece with a clean, fresh paper towel would certainly help. But the greater the surface area- like wrinkly lettuce for example, the less effective your rinse would be. Soft porous produce (like raspberries) can’t effectively be washed. So really you can’t avoid germs on fresh produce. If you’re really worried, just cook everything. That’s your best bet for avoiding germs.

Tuberculosis btw is not transmitted via contaminated food. You get it by being in close contact with someone else who is infected.