More Plastic

Couldn't help but notice just now, when we were in the very well organised and excellently stocked supermarket at Melawati Mall, that almost every item on the racks for vegetables was wrapped or covered or housed in some sort of plastic. I don't think this would be the natural state of the foodstuffs, so someone, somewhere had gone to a lot of trouble to get this done. But I'm not at all sure why. Presumably it makes it easier to buy, or sell. But at what cost?