A new sticker has been developed to protect pears from damage caused when the fruit is repeatedly squeezed by supermarket shoppers.

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A horticultural institute in New Zealand has developed a sticker that changes colour when the fruit is ripe, eliminating the need for consumers to squeeze the fruit to check its ripeness, reported Reuters.


“The system uses a punnet that traps the volatile compounds fruits emit. As the fruit ripen, the label changes colour in response to changing concentrations of these compounds,” Reuters quoted the New Scientist magazine as saying.  


The sticker is currently being tested in shops in Portland, Oregon in the US, and Rob Henzell of the Horticultural and Food Research Institute plans to develop stickers for kiwis, avocados and melons if the US trials are successful.

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