Oranges Turning Purple: There Must Be A Reasonable Explanation

When Angela Postle from Maroochydore in Australia went to take an orange from her fruit bowl, only to discover it had turned a bright shade of purple, she was more than a little shocked.

Postle, a mother-of-five, sent the now-purple oranges to the Queensland Environmental Health Branch for testing.

The health branch was unable to explain why the oranges had turned purple and were carrying out tests to get to the bottom of the phenomenon.

As Postle told reporters, “I’m very worried because I feed my kids a lot of oranges and fruit. We need answers because this could be a more widespread problem.”

In explaining what happened when she discovered the oranges, Postle continued, “I cut them up up for my children but ended up making something else and forgetting about them. The next morning I noticed the purple colouring, and it got progressively worse over the coming days.”

Having sent the purple oranges for testing, Postle went to another supermarket to purchase some fresh orange oranges, but that batch also turned purple before long.

As Postle added, “We need answers, this isn’t normal or natural. I am not going to feed my kids something like that. I think it’s awful they haven’t come up with any answers.”

While the Queensland Environmental Health Branch are still scratching their head for answers, a spokesperson released the following statement,

“Preliminary testing on a sample of oranges which had shown purple discolouration has been completed by the Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services. Testing was carried out to determine the presence of commonly used synthetic food colourings. The oranges showed no indication of the presence of any artificial colours. Testing was also undertaken to determine the presence of iodine. No evidence of iodine was found.”

Until the department comes back with some answers, Postle is avoiding oranges altogether for her and her family, “We’re not eating oranges and being very careful with our food choices until then,” she said.

[Image credit: madebyjayne.com]