Comments on: Food Tattoos

By: Tattoo Supplies Los Angeles

Tattoo Supplies Los Angeles — Mon, 31 May 2010 15:33:52 +0000

I love the idea of getting rid of the stickers too, this has always been something that bothered me. Although maybe not as much as the picture of someone with a beet tattooed on their arm.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:31:35 +0000

I remember when citrus was routinely stamped with a blue identifier of some kind, usually including the packer (EG Sunkist) and country of origin. The strangest incident related to this practice was when a shipment of navel oranges was stamped U S N.

By: Amanda Bensen

Amanda Bensen — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:35:21 +0000

Good questions, Sandra! To answer them, I e-mailed one of the researchers involved in this study, Jan Narciso, who says yes, you can zest (or otherwise eat) the tattooed portion of the fruit—pathogens can’t get through it, and neither can water (so a tomato wouldn’t ooze). The marking is cauterized, so think of it as more like a scar than a cut.

“We have tested a large number of fruits and vegetables and just about the only thing it might not be appropriate for to date are leafy greens (we are testing an alternate for those),” Narciso says.

Thanks for reading!

By: Sandra

Sandra — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:04:43 +0000

Can you zest a citrus fruit that’s been tatooed, or is that part wasted? And how can they tatoo a tomato without causing it to ooze?

By: Edward Cyr

Edward Cyr — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:21:52 +0000

I don’t know if pizza would make a very good-looking tattoo…