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So I came across a reddit thread that discusses something I've been feeling for the past decade or so.
I doubt it's just my city, and I go to several different grocery chains (some better than others), but the frequency with which I encounter the above issues and many more just feels so much higher than 15 years ago. I've gone back and forth about how much of this is bias/nostalgia and how much of this is real, but the more that I eat abroad and the more that I go grocery shopping, the more convinced I get that there has indeed been a significant recent decline in produce quality in the US.
I can't really help with the meat, but I was a produce manager in a previous life. I'll address the object level points first.
-the strawberries are supposed to be like this. It's intentional. The entire relationship of the strawberries to their producer, transporter, and retailer is as something you will give them money for. Once you've bought it their relationship to that item is over. As long as no other retailer defects from this scheme this is how it will remain. They are selected for shelf life and appearance to drive sales. No one cares if they're consumed. This is the ultimate fate of a great deal of products in capitalism if people don't actively work against it with a priority other than raw exploitation and profit. (im a capitalist myself, i just acknowledge its failure modes exist) Strawberries are easy to grow btw.
-bananas were never meant to leave the tropics. they actually have -terrible- shelf lives if picked anywhere even close to ripe. Bannanas are shipped rock hard and dark green. When kept in a 0 oxygen cooler they'll stay this way for 2-3 months. The retailer or distributer can then plan for how many they need to 'be ripe' at what times to meet demand but not over-shoot. You then gas the absolute shit out of them with ethylene. You can still sometimes see the condensed ethylene on the outside of the peel when they're trying to ripen them fast. Its a natural outgas of the plant to time the ripening of all its fruits together in the wild. The commercial operations are safe to eat; this actually happens to most tropical fruit. Without ethylene gas chambers most of us who've lived in the temperate climes would likely have never had a bananna in our lives. With it they are 49ยข/lb at Kroger. The reason they are green and rotten is a combination of being in storage for too long then gassed too hard so they'll look sellable (remeber our first entry on the list) long enough to move. The people who profit off the bananna probably don't mind these rotting in your home. Bannanas are cheap after all: just buy more. You'd likely need to move to Puerto Rico at the closest to grow your own bannanas, and I'm told even with a good climate they're a pain.
-Kiwis that are partially rock-hard and partially mush - the bannana process above is used on kiwis. the defects are the results of the same process descibed above. Again, that piece of fruit was a success as it was purchased.
-Potatoes that wrinkle in a couple day(s). Different beast with this one. These were likely already on the way out when purchased. A good potato will last months in the dry and dark. Pull off the bottom in the store. Break a few of them open. Turn the bags over if they're in bags. Light damage appears as a green stain just under the peel. The stores will flip them over to hide it. Look for dates, the larger bags are the only ones that usually have them, like the big case pack sacks the individual 5lb bags come in. Yellow potatos are harder to pass off as good in the store, the light damage is more obvious. Many stores will also create a disorienting lighting situation near the potatos so they are hard to judge. We did.
In general, most but not all produce items can be learned about and judged more or less accurately in the store. There are some that are hard though, like a watermelon. You can tell when one is obviously bad, but a nice juicy sweet one and one that is solid white on the inside can be identical on the outside. A good store will always cut a few open for sale. If they haven't done this, but usually do, its for a reason. Berries should not be too big or too dark in color, signs of too much or too little water. Apples should have a tight skin around the stem. Stone fruit (peaches, plums etc) and tomatos are harmed by refidgeration, go as fresh as possible on these at all times. I'll tear a peach in half in the store to test them. Any air gap between the stone and the inside of the fruit is a rejection of the whole lot, thats refridgeration damage.
You will probably never get a good tomato at a grocery store. Its not impossible, but there are very few incentives for a store to go through the trouble, and all the incentives to sell beautiful but entirely tasteless tomatos. The ones with a bit of the stem attached are sometimes better. In general anything with the stem still attached it either a flex or a mistake. It super easy to judge the freshness when you can examine a good length of the stem for moisture and dessication. A wet, green center of the stem is in indication that its been off the plant a single digit number of days and almost never seen in a conventional store. Farmers markets and home gardens are the place to get tomatos. Also the Amish if you live near them can hook you up with a lot of this stuff.
Organic is often a scam. It wasn't always this way. You have to research heavily in this space to avoid paying more for shriveled crap.
I can probably give specific guidance for various produce items, though I've been out of the business for 20 years now.
Minor correction- you can grow bananas on the gulf coast, with a lot of effort around winter hardening, and they may not produce in a bad year. I've eaten home grown bananas from someone's backyard in Accadiana, and in Houston.
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