Does light affect the rate of bananas spoiling?

Answer 1

I heard that milk in an opaque carton will spoil slowly, whereas milk in a translucent plastic jug (as most is) spoils more quickly. Supposedly, the light spoils the milk.

Sounded good at first, then I thought about it a little bit. The milk is rarely exposed to light, at least once I buy it. The light in the fridge turns off when I close the door. So how can a few moments' of exposure make that big of a difference? Unless it's the exposure at the store that's supposed to make the difference?

I'd like to see other people's answers, but my first guess is no.

Answer 2

A short exposure to light is not going to affect the taste of milk in a glass or jug. This is highly unlikely. The milk in a large container is mostly opaque and even if light affected the molecules, it would only be a few millimeters deep. This is especially unlikely for weak sources of light like fluorescent bulbs or incandescent bulbs that will impart negligible energy.

However, light from the sun does have a strong UV component that will certainly damage molecules such as proteins over time. Still, I think the chances that a protein crosslinked or broken by UV tastes noticeably different is unlikely.

It is more likely that the milk would heat up under sunlight and incubate bad tasting bacteria before you notice chemical damage caused by UV damage. Heat from sunlight will dramatically accelerate bacteria incubation. The milk could spoil in only a few hours.

Sources:

I am a practicing biochemist and solar panel materials engineer.

Answer 3

yes because the light penetrates the bananas outer skin soit is faster in light. The process is called photodegration

Answer 4

Yes.