Sure it seems that everyone and his grandma is sporting a tattoo or two these days, but how would you feel if the oranges in your fruit bowl follow suit in the near future?

A company called Hydroponics is making that very concept a reality. They have developed a laser technology that actually etches “labels” into the skin of hard and soft skinned fruits without damaging their quality. The technique, which the company has dubbed the ‘Natural Light Label System” is already in use at farms in South Carolina.

For the many consumers who are annoyed by those little sticky labels that adorn their fresh produce at the moment this is good news. Because those labels are designed to be sticky enough to stay affixed throughout the whole journey from the farm to the grocery store shelf, they are often just too tacky for consumers to remove without damaging the fruit or vegetable itself. Not mention the times that a label is accidentally ingested by an unobservant, but hungry consumer.

The fruit tattoos can be created to provide all kinds of information about the object it adorns. Country of origin, variety and even pricing information can be included.

This is all well and good, but does this new labeling system affect the way the fruit tastes, or its freshness and quality? According to Jan Narcisco, a research microbiologist with the USDA’sCitrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory in Winter Haven, Florida, the answer is absolutely not. Apparently the laser beam penetrates only the outer layer of the fruit or vegetables skin, leaving the part that is eaten completely untouched.

In fact, in order to make sure that the procedure was safe and could be submitted for FDA approval Narcisco and her colleagues tested in extensively in their lab. They painted laser etched fruit with various toxins and pathogens, and then analyzed them to see if the substances could permeate into the fruit by way of the laser etching. The answer was no. According to Dr Narisco the laser simply   ”zaps the tissue, and it makes kind of like a callus, so that nothing gets through there. It’s really very, very clean, and you can eat it.”

According to various sources within the industry it expected that the FDA will give its final approval to the widespread use of laser etching for fruit labeling in October or November of 2009, and shortly after that more and more consumers nationwide should begin seeing tattooed fruit on their local grocery stores shelves.