Laser Tattoos Stop You from Eating Fruit Stickers 18 years, 9 months ago by Martey Dodoo

Back during freshman year of college, my group of friends had a meme about not eating the stickers on fruit in Annenberg (the freshman dining hall). Alas, future Harvard freshmen might not have to worry about the danger of stickers, if the technology in this New York Times article comes to "fruition." Instead of stickers, prepare to see laser-engraved tattoos in your fruit. The company that has patented this method, Durand-Wayland, sees much potential in engraving information on fruit in this fashion:

"With the right scanning technology the produce could even be bar-coded with lots of information: where it comes from, who grew it, who picked it, even how many calories it has per serving," said Fred Durand III, president of Durand-Wayland. "You could have a green pepper that was completely covered with coding. Or you could sell advertising space."

I foresee that any such marking will have to be relatively unobtrusive in order to appeal to consumers. Since so much of fruit selection is based on its external apperance, too much marking on the fruit's surface would make it seem unattractive.