If you’re looking to extend the expiration date of fresh produce, Debbie Meyer’s GreenBags are not the answer. GreenBags are an as-seen-on-TV product, that is supposed to keep produce fresh longer than in regular storage. It’s a great idea but only that.
According to Debbie Meyer, GreenBags can keep produce fresh for nine to 21 days.
The bags are made with Oya, which is claimed to be a natural mineral that absorbs and removes the ethylene gas produced by fruits and vegetables as they ripen.
GreenBags can be found among the useless junk in the checkout lanes of Wal-Mart for around $10.
To test these bags, I went to Albertson’s for fresh tomatoes, sweet potatoes and bananas. As instructed, I made sure the produce was dry and placed one of each in the GreenBags.
I wouldn’t be impressed if these bags worked in the fridge, so I left them on the counter.
All was well after the first few days, but then things got a little disturbing.
The bag holding the tomatoes had grown mold. Yes, the bag, not the tomatoes. By the next day, they had grown light gray fuzz.
Although the tomatoes were starting to rot, the sweet potato and banana looked decent at the end of the week.
By nine days, the sweet potato showed trace amounts of mold while the tomatoes looked the worst. Their flesh was spotted with darker fuzz and sitting in a small puddle of dark grey moisture.
These two rotten tomatoes produced just as strong an odor as a dumpster of hot trash, which could be smelled through the bag. If those spores were toxic, my family and I, and possibly the neighbors, would be dead.
At a glance I thought the banana was the only success, but it turned out to be a failure upon further examination.
One side remained yellow, while the other was covered with dark brown streaks and spots. It was extremely squishy and the stem was devoured by fuzzy, light grey mold. I would have to touch that to eat it, which I wouldn’t dare.
Experimenting with this product really killed my appetite. I didn’t even want to check up on the produce for fear of nasty surprises, so finding the courage to eat something out of the bags was impossible.
What I found most disturbing about this product is that the bags are advertised as reusable. In the commercial, Debbie Meyer says they’re good for up to 10 uses, and the package states, “simply rinse, allow to dry and reuse.”
Who would reuse a bag saturated with mold even once, especially if rinsing is all that’s required?
This product is disgusting and unnecessary, and it pained me to watch some of my favorite and expensive produce go to waste. Keeping produce in the refrigerator is much more effective for freshness.