Why do grocery stores spray their produce with water?

Answer 1

The reason they do this is because of the plant's turgor pressure, which is the pressure of the cell's contents against its cell wall, determined by the water content from omosis. If there is more solute in the plant than in its surrounding environment than you have a hypotonic solution where water diffuses into the cell to achieve equilibrium. Thus by routinely spraying the vegetables with water it keeps up their turgor pressure and keeps them nice and crisp for us to eat.

Answer 2

Water pressure often provides the support to keep plants turgid. As vegetables dry out the water pressure drops and the vegetables become flaccid and wrinkly - not very attractive to a customer! When water is sprayed on the vegetables it diffuses across the cell walls because there's a higher concentration of water outside of the cells than in. Since this is water diffusing across the walls it's called osmosis.

Answer 3

The water from the produce diffuse into the air causing the fruit to become flimsy and not fresh. Grocery stores spray water on produce to keep it from going bad and keep it crisp and tasty.So if the vegetables are not sprayed they will go bad.

Answer 4

Through a process called osmosis, the fresh water enters the plant cells (through the selectively permeable membrane) and gives them a more rigid/strong appearance. This allows a plant to reach out for the sunlight, making it appear healthy and strong. As we know, people only buy healthy/strong plants so by spraying their produce with water, they increase revenue.

Answer 5

In the grocery store, plants have no way to absorb water naturally from the ground. So they need to be sprayed to keep them from wilting.

Some vegetables, like onions and potatoes, don't need to be sprayed because they have skins that are good at keeping water in. But a vegetable like lettuce loses water at a faster rate, so it needs to be sprayed pretty often.

Answer 6

Misting the vegetables fills the central vacuoles withing the cells with water due to the process of osmosis thus making the outside stay firm for longer.

Answer 7

So that they appear frehser and attractive..They look as if they come out of the morning dew

Answer 8

to keep them fresh and from decaying fast....!

Answer 9

to keep them moist & fresh looking