FRUIT TUB DISTURBS

It doesn't take much to upset some people:

Why should I buy packaged fruit in a plastic, non-recyclable tub when I can simply give my child fruit? I find this image of a child using a plastic spoon to eat out of plastic tub - an image meant to evoke health and naturalness - quite disturbing. School playgrounds are often awash with plastic rubbish - ziplock bags, yoghurt tubs, clingfilm. This generation of children is going to have to contend with the mind-blowingly huge garbage problem created by our consumerism and the mass production of plastics, many of which are basically unnecessary. Yet this advertising campaign puts the plastic tub at the forefront, almost as a love object. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. Advertising encourages children’s fascination with packaging, so that peeling off the foil or flipping a lid becomes almost as important as eating the food inside.

The solution is simple, really: don't want it, don't buy it. In my experience -- three kids -- the apple is a favorite lunch-box inclusion: they're excellent projectiles that explode nicely on impact with solid surfaces.

Update: The "fresh is better than canned" argument isn't right:

Has the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables got you down? Tired of your fresh produce going bad in the fridge because you didn’t get to it? Well you may be happy to know that fresh isn’t necessarily better than canned or frozen. Although fresh vegetables have superior taste, colour and texture than their frozen or canned counterparts, you can rest easy knowing that you are providing your body with the same amount of nutrients (i.e. vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre) regardless of the source.

If buying frozen or canned means that you are more likely to purchase and eat fruits and vegetables than that is all that matters.

Shunning tubbed fruit might make you feel superior but it's not getting you better quality food.