About two months ago I bought some Honeycrisp apples from a local big store that were packaged in a plastic clamshell box with spots for each apple. When I opened the package I was hit by a smell of what seemed to me to be like vinyl (like when you buy a new cheap plastic shower curtain). More within...
I called the store to ask about it and they hadn't heard of any other reports of that smell. I was going to return them but my husband (who doesn't really....pay a lot of attention to the wholesomeness of what he's eating to be honest) ate them. I assumed it was a one off problem with the packaging so didn't do more, but this last week I bought different apples (cosmic crisp this time) from a different store that were loose (from a bin, not in packaging) and they also have a faint smell of vinyl to me. It does go away if I wash them but I'm concerned they'd smell like that at all. Is anyone else here experiencing this? This is in the NW USA, and I'd also like to know, if I smell this again and the produce people don't give me a satisfactory answer as to what it is, who do I report this to as far as food safety?
I do want to say I've never experienced this before, it's disconcerting.