Photo: Anna Shvets

Do cucumbers need to be wrapped in plastic?

That's a big problem. Naked cucumbers dehydrate quickly, becoming limp, and are vulnerable to damage during their journey from greenhouse to your fridge. By acting as a second skin, plastic film extends their shelf-life by almost a full week.

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Why do cucumbers come wrapped in plastic, and what are we doing about it?

If you have ever wondered why English cucumbers come wrapped in plastic film, you are not alone! Knowing that single-use plastics are a bane of the environment, it can seem frivolous to wrap our food this way. But, there is in fact a good reason plastic wrap is used on certain produce: reducing food waste. If you need any convincing, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 40% of food produced globally goes wasted. That’s a big problem. Naked cucumbers dehydrate quickly, becoming limp, and are vulnerable to damage during their journey from greenhouse to your fridge. By acting as a second skin, plastic film extends their shelf-life by almost a full week. The plastic protects from injuries that can let in agents of rot, such as bacteria, fungi and fruit flies, while also locking in moisture and blocking out oxygen, a main culprit in accelerating decay. Some types of cucumbers have thicker skin and naturally hold up better, and don’t benefit as much from a plastic coating. On our transition to zero plastics, we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle when it comes to keeping food fresh. Truth is, in many cases, you can't get rid of packaging without affecting shelf-life, thus not helping the global food waste problem. Therefore, in the last decade or so, researchers and innovators have been exploring alternatives to this film, which would still allow to maintain optimal freshness, while eliminating the plastic waste. Today, producers and distributors have begun implementing some of the more viable alternatives. Westmorland Topline Farms in Leamington, Ontario – a leading greenhouse grower – is completely nixing the plastic wrap and switching to a plant-based spray made by a Californian company called Apeel. The coating is made of lipids (fats, oils, waxes), and works with cucumbers’ natural protection against oxygen, evaporation, and invaders. The edible, colourless coating is as effective as plastic at providing a moisture and oxygen barrier. Another Leamington-based greenhouse grower, Nature Fresh, is instead opting for home-compostable bio-plastic film made from starch, which they developed in-house. There are many other potential solutions in the works, and the innovations adopted for cucumbers will certainly pan out to other fruit and vegetables, further reducing our reliance on single use plastics, while avoiding food waste due to spoilage. We also have our role to play at home by learning the best storage conditions for different produce. To keep your cukes crisp and green - and keep plastic out of landfills, the environment and waterways - store them refrigerated, wrapped in beeswax wraps or in any airtight, reusable container or bag. Here’s to a waste-free future!

By Renée-Claude Goulet

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