printing on FRUITS ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter piotr barañski
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piotr barañski

hello everybody!
i am searching for some information about a device, which is able to print
on fruits (for example apples). unfortunatelly i do not know anything about
technology, company who developed the printer.
have you ever heard of that? please reply
 
piotr said:
hello everybody!
i am searching for some information about a device, which is able to print
on fruits (for example apples). unfortunatelly i do not know anything about
technology, company who developed the printer.
have you ever heard of that? please reply
Click to expand...

I recently read in the newspaper that a Canadian has developed a machine
that burns (prints) messages on fruit using a laser. There are many
advantages to this. No sticky labels to peel off (or to ever buy, print
and apply!) and no worries of toxic ink on your fruit as the laser only
etches the very top of the skin of the fruit (about 18 millionths of
an inch). In other words, it won't cook your apples in the process of
labeling them.

Here's the link to the story: http://www.cjoh.com/view_info.asp?id=2496

And here's the link to the company that makes the laser printer:

http://www.durand-wayland.com/laser_coding/index.html

Good luck!

-Taliesyn
 
Shooter said:
Would that not be dangerous to eat, printer ink on fruit.
Click to expand...

"Edible ink" exists, as far as I know. But still, most people
would prefer not eat ink of any kind.

-Taliesyn
 
Taliesyn said:
"Edible ink" exists, as far as I know. But still, most people
would prefer not eat ink of any kind.
Click to expand...

As a kid I used to pick Blackcaps (black raspberries). The main market for
these was to make dyes to mark USDA grades on meat.

- Bob Headrick
 
Sounds a bit fruity to me ;-)

I did some Google searches for you. The only thing I came up with was a
NYTimes article on printing on fruit with a laser printer of some type,
but the link was no longer working.

Here is the link, and perhaps you can email the New York Times and ask
them if they still have it archived somewhere. It is apparently from
the July 19, 2005 dining and food section.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/d...&en=6592fa063f191099&ei=5094&partner=homepage


Other than that, you can "print" on apples by taping a negative on an
unripe one and allowing it to ripen in the sun. The exposed part will
be red the other part green (on an apple which ripens red, obviously).
All the other references I found are to machines which print on labels
or boxes.

Hope this helps.

Art
 
You did much better than I did on this search.

Here's some interesting details:

The machine leases for $12-14K a year, it weighs 300 pounds, and can
imprint 17 fruits per second, or about 1200 per minute. It uses a CO2
laser.

On fruits which lack contrast when they are imprinted, a dye is added
which is very low cost (about $5 a month at full production).

Sunkist is already using it on lemons and oranges.

Consumers and retailers love it, because the stickers usually used are a
real pain and end up everywhere but where they should be, and are
difficult on soft fruit to remove.

One California company claimed to save over $.5 million the first year
over cost of labeling with stickers, due to no labels required, and less
labor costs for operation.

The developer/inventor has created the product nine years before
offering it to bid for production units.

Sounds like a great use of technology, saving money, and environmentally
better and safer, and more convenient for producers, retailers and
consumers.

Of course, if any of the inkjet companies owned the patents, the printer
would be free and the dye would sell for $400,000 an ounce ;-)

Art
 
Oh, the good old days when natural dyes were commonplace.

A commonly used red dye for many years, still used in some cosmetics and
drinks is cochineal. It is derived from a scale insect that lives on
the pads and fruit of the prickly pear cactus. The pigment colorant
concentrate (carminic acid) within the insect. It is quite bitter so it
repels many of the insects potential predators. The scale insects are
collect and dried then ground to make the dye. It is all over the place
in the Canary Islands, where I first encountered it. It is considered
organic and safe for consumption, but most people have no idea where it
comes from.

Then again if most people knew what Jello or any brand of animal gelatin
came from, they probably wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much...

Art
 
Sounds a bit fruity to me ;-)

I did some Google searches for you. The only thing I came up with was a
NYTimes article on printing on fruit with a laser printer of some type,
but the link was no longer working.

Here is the link, and perhaps you can email the New York Times and ask
them if they still have it archived somewhere. It is apparently from
the July 19, 2005 dining and food section.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/d...&en=6592fa063f191099&ei=5094&partner=homepage


Other than that, you can "print" on apples by taping a negative on an
unripe one and allowing it to ripen in the sun. The exposed part will
be red the other part green (on an apple which ripens red, obviously).
All the other references I found are to machines which print on labels
or boxes.

Hope this helps.

Art
Click to expand...
Whenever I see fruit such as oranges with the sunkist name printed on
them, I just assumed they use an inked stamp.
 
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