The Internet Cannot Explain Why This Orange Slice Turned Purple

Even though we’ve figured out a lot of life’s greatest mysteries thanks to science, sometimes puzzling things still occur. And they can even happen in your own kitchen. After Canberra, Australia mom Neti Moffitt looked at the leftover orange slices that her 2-year-old son didn’t eat, she realized they had turned a shade of purple overnight. And, well, that’s kind of strange.

Moffitt’s son did have a few bites of the orange, which had also changed colors after she retrieved the remains from the garbage. Luckily, he wasn’t sick at all — which is a good clue in identifying what may have happened. Yes, this mystery has left the kitchen and is now in the hands of an Australian government agency,  who are now in possession of the slices, the knife used to cut the orange,  and the sharpener that Moffitt used on the knife. The orange will undergo forensic testing.

“There’s only one other case that’s been reported,” Moffitt said to Australia’s ABC News, that notes the other instance of oranges turning purple also happened in Queensland. Back in 2015, oranges from a location called Chinchilla in the Western Downs had the same color after being cut open. Those oranges were studied as well, and scientists couldn’t find evidence of iodine or artificial food coloring — they were just purple.

Mystery surrounds orange turning purple; government collects it for forensic testinghttps://t.co/UsSrI9dTx8 pic.twitter.com/rFwqlNhT2g

— ABC Brisbane (@abcbrisbane) September 6, 2018

Twitter users were quick to have their own theories.

Others were confused since if this becomes a common occurrence… would we still call them oranges? A “purple” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Purporange? ... Oranurple?

— FcuktheNWO (@FcuktheN) September 7, 2018

When Moffitt posted about it on Facebook, people were baffled as well. It’s such a strange discovery.

The good news is, it seems like these oranges are safe — at least, in very small doses. Still, if you happen to find something peculiar with your orange, you might want to call someone about it before you throw it out. You might help aid in a scientific discovery.