Whole Foods pre-peeled oranges in plastic pulled after social media ridicule

The supermarket chain has said the idea is 'definitely our mistake'

The image and comment was re-tweeted and liked more than 54,000 times

(Twitter, Natalie Gordon)

Are you too posh to peel? Or perhaps you just don't like getting your hands dirty?

If so, upmarket supermarket Whole Foods thought it had come up with the perfect solution with its pre-peeled oranges.

However, the internet wasn't so sure.

The pre-peeled oranges inside plastic boxes have caused such outrage on social media that Whole Foods has dropped the idea altogether.

A single tweet with a photo of the whole oranges, devoid of their skin and placed in plastic packaging, went viral after the poster commented on the irony of removing their natural protective layer.

Nathalie Gordon, a Twitter user, took a photo of the oranges in the store, which calls itself "America's healthiest grocery store."

"If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn't need to waste so much plastic on them," she said.

Responses ranged from those who were angered by the wanton waste to others who said they personally struggled to peel an orange.

One Twitter user said: "That makes me unbelievably angry actually. Talk about necessarily contributing to plastic taking over the planet."

Another said they found the brand name "Whole Foods" ironic given the removal of the peel.

"How does Whole Foods only sell three-quarters of an orange?" asked Twitter user Anthony Domanico.

The original post has been re-tweeted and liked more than 54,000 times - causing Whole Foods to take notice of the criticism.

"Definitely our mistake. These have been pulled. We hear you, and we will leave them in their natural packaging: the peel."

Yet this was met with some complaints about lack of consideration for those with hand mobility issues, ranging from arthritis to poor motor skills.

It's not the first time that Whole Foods has been criticised over some of its more left-field products. Last year it pulled "asparagus water" (yes, that's what it sounds like - three asparagus spears placed in bottled water) from its shelves after charging $6 a bottle in an LA store.