19 July 2005 (Tuesday)
it's not just bugs anymore
Oh dear. I think fruit is going to be on its way out entirely. According to the New York Times, the next big thing is going to be tattooed fruit:
A new technology being used by produce distributors employs lasers to tattoo fruits and vegetables with their names, identifying numbers, countries of origin and other information that helps speed distribution. The marks are burned onto the outer layer of the skin and are visible to discerning consumers and befuddled cashiers alike.
...They are also visible to shomer Shabbat Jews, who may be wary of violating the melacha (prohibited work-like activity) of "erasing" on Shabbat by biting into or peeling such produce. As I recall, on Shabbat one may bite into a piece of cake that has writing on it, but one may not actually cut through the letters on the cake. This situation seems similar enough.
Not to give the rabbis any crazy ideas, but I can see easily some kind of ban being place on consuming these fruits and vegetables on Shabbat and yom tovim (festival days). And I'm not so sure I'd disagree with them, at least as much as it applies to cutting and peeling.
What a pain in the butt.
Cross-posted at KosherBlog.
(Belated acknowledgement to DovBear, who also found the article. I read it and wrote my post before seeing his, but who am I to be stingy with my links?)
Interesting. I have to say I'd be in favor of getting rid of those annoying stickers, and it seems to me from the article that it might not be as big a shabbat problem as you're saying. If the inscriptions are small enough that they can be peeled off in one stroke or bitten off in one bite, there might not be much of an issue.
Holy Meleches Machsheves, Batman!
First hotels go to electronic keys; now tattooed fruit. Siz shver tzizein ah Yid!
Also, companies could start tattooing ads onto fruit. Ick.
The "no cutting letters on cake" thing (as with the "no opening books with library names stamped on the edges of the pages" thing) is a matter of contention. The authority my family has always followed hold that there's absolutely no problem with it; there was never any permanence to the words in the question, and thus no actual erasing. I'm not sure how this would apply to the fruit, and, as always, CYLR.
