'If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges!': Whole Foods under fire after selling ready peeled oranges in plastic containers

Upmarket supermarket Whole Foods has come under fire for selling ready-peeled oranges packaged up in plastic containers.

The packaging faux pas was spotted at Whole Foods store in California and posted on Reddit with the caption: 'Are people really that lazy nowadays?'

Cue an Internet frenzy with thousands taking to social media to question the store's misuse of packaging.

One Tweet, sent by London shopper Natalie Gordon picked up the most traffic with her dry observation: 'If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn't need to waste so much plastic on them.' 

Scroll down for video 

Upmarket supermarket Whole Foods has come under fire for selling ready-peeled oranges packaged up in plastic containers (pictured)

Her message prompted a Twitter furore and was retweeted more than 50,000 times, mainly by outraged customers.

Whole Foods prides itself on sustainable and organic products and encourages shoppers to bring along their own bags or use paper bags in a bid to help the environment and this product appears to be at odds with this policy.

One person responded: 'That makes me unbelievably angry actually. Talk about necessarily contributing to plastic taking over the planet.'

Another said: 'I guess people are too busy to peel an orange!'. Another user said: 'Pre-peeled oranges are actually a thing?! Wow. Just. Wow...;

The packaging faux pas was picked up by shopper Nathalie Gordon while she was in a store in California

Others took to Twitter to ridicule Whole Foods, highlighting that the packaging was not only bad for the environment but a complete waste of time

However, others pointed out that the pre-peeled oranges were helpful for those with disabilities, who were not able to peel them themselves  

While one user wrote: 'The irony of this being Whole Foods too.'

But other users suggested it could be for disabled or elderly people who are unable to peel the fruit. 

Following the outrage, Whole Foods said it would pull the product from the shelves.

The store replied to Ms Gordon, saying: 'Definitely our mistake. These have been pulled. We hear you, and we will leave them in their natural packaging: the peel.'

A spokeswoman added that many customers want convenience but that this experiment wasn't 'fully thought through'.

They said: 'We're glad some customers pointed it out so we could take a closer look.'

Following the backlash, Whole Foods responded with this tweet saying that it was 'their mistake' and that the item would be pulled from stores 

But it seems there is one rule for oranges, and another for pineapples.

While the outrage over #Orangegate was visceral, it seems that people aren't too bothered about pre-packaged pineapples or bananas.

One Twitter account posted a photo of chopped up pineapple and said: 'Gosh Whole Foods, if only pineapples had a natural container that...Oh, that's not silly either? Oranges are okay'

While another user tweeted a picture from European supermarket chain BILLA with a picture of pre-peeled bananas packaged up that also seems to have gone unnoticed.  

It's not just oranges that are being presented in the store pre-cut, pineapples have been sold like this for some time, but hasn't seemed to illicit the same outcry

Meanwhile, in Europe, superstore BILLA is selling peeled bananas 

But last year, Whole Foods caused another storm when a customer took a photo on Instagram which showed 'asparagus water' - consisting of some aspargus stalks floating in bottled water - on sale for $5.99 (about £4.20), in a store in Los Angeles.

This also prompted ridicule online, one tweeter said: '$6.00 for Asparagus water? Umm no! I can take some asparagus and put it some water my darn self! But why would I, that sounds gross!' 

Whole Foods then pulled the product from its shelf, saying that it had been 'mislabeled'  

Following its removal, one tweeter commented: 'Good for getting asparagus water taken out of Whole Foods, but that's really like the 297th most ridiculous and overpriced thing they carry.'

Asparagusgate: After a backlash on social media last year, Whole Foods decided to pull the asparagus water from the store, describing it as a mistake