4 hours ago, &roid said:
Unless you only eat apples you've grown yourself you already eat ones that are twelve plus months old. It's normal practice to store them for prolonged periods.
While I agree with you in principle, your contention, as presented, is, at least in my area of the world, not necessarily valid. We can easily purchase fresh apples here from various vendors, one of which, last year, had 32 varieties of apples for sale, all of which were seasonally fresh and local to the Pacific Northwest and nearby areas. Another vendor lists where the apples were grown, and buying it's easy, then, to get fruit that's in season, even if not local. Many of our farmers markets require that any produce sold be locally grown, and their definition of that is within a 200 mile radius of the market (there are some small exceptions, but, for example, you won't find bananas or pineapples at these markets). If you're buying locally you know what's fresh as you know the season when the produce is harvested and sold. No such thing as Mexican summer squash at these markets.
Rather than rely on the supermarket to tell you what's fresh - their definition is often at odds with what is truly fresh - you, as the consumer, need to have an awareness of food - where it's grown, when it's in season, who's growing it - and if fresh produce, including apples, is important to you, make your purchases accordingly.