Buyer Beware: Debbie Meyer Green Bags

In the age of health conscious living, there has never been more emphasis on eating fresh fruits and vegetables. But the trick is to make sure those fruits and veggies stay fresh for eating.

In 2007, Housewares America, Inc. came out with Debbie Meyer Green Bags, which claim that they will prolong the life of your produce for up to 30 days by absorbing and removing ethylene gases which accelerates the ripening process.

As good ol’ Debbie will tell you in her infomercial, Green Bags will save you money by eliminating waste.

Sounds too good to be true? Yeah, we thought so too.

Emelia Nyarku, Kristel Mason, Deborah Remus, and I decided to take Housewares America, Inc., and Debbie Meyer herself, up on the claims they made. Should consumers pay $14.99 for 20 Green Bags when they can just as easily get 50 Glad bags for a third of the price?

The Experiment

Over a time period of eight days, we tested the effectiveness of Green Bags against the more common means of food storage: Glad bags, grocery store bags/boxes, and on the counter, or in the fridge.

We put bananas, mushrooms, and strawberries, which tend to spoil quickly, into each test condition, and examined them daily for firmness, odour, weight, size (in diameter, specifically for mushrooms), spotting, and mould.

The instructions on the Green Bags packaging stated that produce stored in the bags must be kept as dry as possible, and to wipe away any moisture which formed in the bags. To be consistent, we applied this instruction to the other storage conditions too.

The Research

While our experiment was in progress, we gathered secondary research from scientists, supermarkets, culinary institutions, and consumer testimonials on the Internet. Here’s a sample of our significant findings:

Rick Holley, a professor from the University of Manitoba’s food science department, admitted that the Green Bags just might work. The presence of moisture is one of the main factors that induces food spoilage, and zeolite, a porous material that is supposedly in the bag, could act as a moisture absorbing compound.

Holley advised, however, that simply adjusting the temperature of your fridge could produce the same effect. Setting your fridge temperature at around 6 degrees Celsius, he said, would probably improve the shelf life of produce by 50 per cent.

To clarify the properties of zeolite, Ernest Prokopchuck, who teaches chemistry at the University of Winnipeg, said that it is anadsorbent material, which is different from absorbent. For instance, water can absorb into cloth, but zeolite absorbs materials to itself, similar to the attraction of metal to magnets.

That being the case, Prokopchuk said that spoilage-causing ethylene gases will not actually be removed completely, as demonstrated in the Green Bags infomercial. Rather, some ethylene will escape out the bag through the zeolite, and some will flow right back in.

Conclusion

Overall, Debbie Meyer Green Bags underperformed when compared with other food storage methods.

Although Housewares America, Inc. claims that Green Bags will “dramatically” extend the life of your fruits and veggies, their performance in our experiments was not exceptional.

Glad bags retained produce freshness just as well as Green Bags in 3 out of 4 experiments conducted on mushrooms.

(Glad bag mushrooms; Day 1 (left), Day 8 (right))

(Green Bags mushrooms; Day 1 (left), Day 8 (right))

In 3 out of 4 experiments conducted on bananas, and 2 out of 4 experiments conducted on strawberries, Glad bags actually performed better than the Green Bags.

(Glad bag bananas; Day 1 (left), Day 8 (right))

(Green Bags bananas; Day 1 (left), Day 8 (right))

(Glad bag strawberries; Day 1 (left), Day 8 (right))

(Green Bags strawberries; Day 1 (left), Day 8 (right))

Housewares America, Inc. also claims that by absorbing and removing ethylene gas, Green Bags will delay the natural ripening and rotting process.

However, 2 out of 4 experiments found mould forming on the stems of bananas in Green Bags before it formed on those in the other test conditions.

One experiment found mould on strawberries in the Green Bags, but not on those in the Glad bags.

(Green Bags strawberries)

What You Should Do

If you’re looking for ways to increase the amount of time your fruits and veggies stay fresh, save that $14.99 you set aside for Debbie’s Green Bags. We recommend trying other storage methods or even altering your food purchasing habits before purchasing Green Bags:

1. Buy local and in-season produce. Fruits and veggies shipped across the country and around the world are often harvested early, and begin to ripen en route to the consumer. There is also the potential that the produce was exposed to less than ideal shipping conditions, such as poor temperature, which will decrease the quality of the produce once you get it. Buying local and in-season produce ensures maximum freshness and quality (not to mention supporting your local farmers).

(Karl Oman, instructor, Culinary Arts program, Red River College)

2. Set your fridge to 6 degrees Celsius. This is the temperature that will encourage maximum shelf-life in most produce.

(Rick Holley, professor, food science department, University of Manitoba)

3. Don’t put your mushrooms in plastic. Mushrooms need proper air circulation to breathe. Plastic inhibits air flow, and can cause harmful bacteria to grow on the mushrooms, which can be poisonous for humans. Plastic also makes them slimy - scrap the plastic and use paper!

(Karl Oman, instructor, Culinary Arts program, Red River College)

The bottom line: Debbie Meyer Green Bags may prolong the life of certain produce, but not “dramatically”, as claimed. In the majority of tests we conducted, Glad bags were just as efficient. So the question remains: $14.99 for 20 Green Bags, or $4.99 for 50 Glad bags? It's a tough call!