Quest for safety, freshness drives Hong Kong's high-end fruit fad

Hong Kong

IT might be a healthy food choice, but Hong Kong's latest fruit fad is doing serious damage to shoppers' wallets.

From luxury supermarkets to outdoor stalls, expensive premium produce is increasingly on show and sought after by customers.

At Hong Kong's vibrant Yau Ma Tei fruit market, a Malaysian durian goes for HK$600 (S$108) and Tasmanian cherries for HK$550.

On the shelves of high-end supermarket City Super, a single Japanese strawberry recently fetched a whopping HK$168. Each strawberry nestled on a foam pillow, encased in a glossy cardboard box.

The appetite for…