Cut fruit in vending machines?

According to a January 31 story in the Packer On line www.thepacker.com
Dole Food Company is planning to launch a test program in five cities where school students will have access to vending machines stocked with cut fruit and salads. A program that could expand to other cities later this year.

I for one am all for kids having the opportunity to eat more nutritious food while at school; especially food from vending machines. However, and this is a big however, just who is going to make sure that this cut fruit is safe to eat. I am sure that Dole has plans in place to assure that this product is handled appropriately and that the cold chain is maintained, but produce is produce and the expiration date on a bowl of cut fruit does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that it is fit to eat a day before the expiration date even if held at 33 degrees for every minute after it was cut.

Look, I've been a retailer for over thirty years and the hardest product to maintain freshness on at store level is cut fruit. How many of you retailers out there routinely visit stores and pull cut fruit that is "in date" because the melons are translucent, or the cup is too watery. Just who is going to maintain the integrity of this product once it is in a vending machine? The guy that stocks the coke? Just my gut but Dole and their partners really need to be careful with this venture.