Fruits should be left to ripen on the tree and not plucked unripe and ripened artificially with chemicals and gases, as is often the case these days, so that they can be sold even out of season. These artificially ripened fruits are a poor source of vitamins as they are at their best when the fruit ripens on the tree in sunlight. They also lack taste and flavour and tend to spoil sooner. Artificially ripened vegetables and fruits have low resistance and have to be protected with liberal doses of poisonous pesticides, which is passed on to the consumer.