Oranges turning purple after being cut open leave experts baffled
Experts are baffled by a mysterious orange that turned purple after it was cut open.
Brisbane learning specialist and mum of two Neti Moffitt prepared a snack for her son on Tuesday.
“I cut the orange open and I gave half of the orange to my 2-year-old son,” she told Yahoo7.
“He had a bit of a go at the orange and once he was finished with it, I threw the three pieces that he had had in the bin.
“I left the other half of the orange sitting in a bowl on my kitchen bench, and it was actually beside one of my home-grown lemons.”
The next morning Ms Moffitt discovered the chameleon-like change.
“Wednesday morning, I woke up and found that the orange had turned this most peculiar deep purple, indigo colour which really was quite alarming,” she said.
“I then went to the rubbish bin to dig out the three bits that my son had eaten the day before and found that those pieces were even more purple than the ones sitting on the bench.”
The lemon next to the orange did not turn purple.
Ms Moffitt bought the orange from a local fruit and vegetable store in Keperra and has since informed the grocer about the strange fruits.
To crack this citrusy conundrum, Ms Moffitt contacted Queensland Health on Wednesday.
“When I contacted them on Wednesday, they were really excited to come out and grab the oranges, because they’re really keen to find out what’s causing it,” she said.
This rare occurrence was also documented in 2015, when a Queensland mother from Chinchilla, Western Downs reported that her oranges turned from orange to purple.
On Thursday, Queensland Health officers collected items for forensic testing.
“The knife that that I used and a steel that my husband had used to recently sharpen the knife, have all now been taken away by Queensland Health so they can do some forensic testing, to see if they can find out what’s going on,” she said.
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Ms Moffitt said that her child is healthy, but she is intrigued by the case.
“I’m very curious,” she said.
“It is just a mystery that I would love to be solved.
Local health officials collected the specimens on Thursday.
“We can confirm the Metro North Public Health Unit collected a sample of discoloured orange slices, a stainless-steel knife and a stainless-steel sharpener from a residential address yesterday,” the Metro North Hospital and Health Service told Yahoo7 on Friday.
“The items have been taken to Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services for testing.”
Queensland Health confirmed they are investigating the incident.
“Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services are in the process of analysing samples that were presented to the laboratory on Thursday 6 September 2018 in relation to the purple discolouration of an orange,” a Queensland Health spokeswoman said.
“We are unable to draw any conclusions until the testing is complete.”
