Did You Know About Fruit Waxing?

Fruit waxing is the process of covering fruit with wax, which can be petroleum based. I did not know about this phenomenon until recently when my daughter came back from a day trip at a citrus farm. She learnt a lot, and certainly taught me a lot. If you look at these two naartjies, they were picked at the same time, but they are visibly different. 

The difference gets materially visible with time as the one seems to rot, while the one with wax remains shiny and looks fine. So fruit waxing not only results in the fruit being pleasing to the eye by being shiny. The fruit waxing also acts as a form of preservative, resulting with the fruit having a longer shelf life in the stores.

I have always wondered why the street vendors sometimes have fruits that just do not look "fresh" but now I know it's because they are selling produce that has not been contaminated by this fruit waxing process. 

I wonder what material is in the wax though and if there are no long term side effects on humans for consuming it. The irony of the shinier fruit, being contaminated by something foreign though is so thick, you could choke on it!