Candy may be dandy, but a vending machine company is betting Americans may want a handy alternative: chilled, pre-peeled oranges and grapefruit.
An efficient, high-tech peeling process has made it possible to offer fruit that, properly refrigerated, has a vending machine shelf life of 21 days, said Glenn Stern, chairman of Automated Vending of America.The fruit is being dispensed at a downtown Los Angeles YMCA, and Automated Vending plans to set up several hundred machines throughout California by spring, Stern said.
"We see them being placed in health clubs, gymnasiums, schools and recreation centers," he said.
The oranges will retail for about 75 cents; the grapefruit for about 90 cents. Los Angeles-based Automated Vending also plans to sell the fruit to the vending industry at large, Stern said.
The peeling process is getting a tryout at a plant in Ontario, east of Los Angeles, that is operated by the Sunkist citrus growers' cooperative, Sunkist spokesman Mike Loudon said Monday.
The process was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the mid-1970s. He said Sunkist has spent about $2.5 million perfecting the process for large-scale commercial use.
Oranges and white and pink grapefruit are bathed in a solution of water and pectinase, a naturally occurring enzyme common in the peel of all citrus fruit, Loudon said.
In naturally ripened fruit, the pectinase makes the peel easy to remove.
The ripening process is taken a step further with the treated fruit, softening the peel and the pithy white albedo enough to be easily removed by machine and hand labor, he said.
"The peel is removed without violating the inside of the fruit" and causing any loss of juice, Loudon said.
There also is no vitamin loss, he said, adding that cool washes remove all traces of the enzyme.
Sunkist sells the pre-peeled fruit to hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools and airlines as well as to Automated Vending.
Stern said his company has developed a $2,900, computer-controlled vending machine to regulate refrigeration. The fruit should be kept at 34 to 36 degrees, Loudon said.
The machine also monitors a dated bar code to ensure each piece of fruit is safe to eat before being dispensed in a sealed plastic container, Stern said.
The new product is unlikely to convert those snack addicts who routinely reach for chocolate or chips.
"It would be foolish to base a business premise on changing people's habits," Stern said.