Can you smell this? A wild animal could for sure, but can you? I have a very good sense of smell (officially called hyperosmia, it's "an overwhelming sensitivity to smells"). It wasn't like that from day one. Like anyone I could smell things, but about 10 years ago this has changed. After my mother's death in quite horrendous circumstances, I changed my ways. I dropped all chemicals and became quite suspicious of many daily products people consider safe. For me nothing was safe anymore. I had to question everything. I stopped using chemical detergents, cosmetics, etc. The only things I now allow in my home are natural products. Probably thanks to this change, I can now pick very subtle smells like the fainted ones a hand would leave on a plastic packaging or a paper bag. I can pick perfume even when the person wearing it has been out of the room half an hour before I come in. Cigarette smoke at a long distance. The stinkiness of the car windshield cleaner someone is using on the other end of a large parking. Etc.
It might be an advantage in a few exceptional situations, but it's above all a social handicap on a daily basis. I've always been asocial and this has clearly sealed the deal!
With my history of eating disorders, I'm quite a maniac when it comes to food-related smells. I stopped going to supermarkets years ago, because the general smell in those places is awful. It sticks to your clothes, your hair... and anything you could buy from there, especially plastic wraps and cardboard boxes. You can do the test yourself, at least if you live in France. I concluded it was probably coming from the ventilation, but I'm still not sure.
Another problem is employees who wear perfume or after-shave. Even if they wash their hands, it stays on their skin and transfer to packs or even worse, directly to fruits and vegetables. It's quite disgusting. Hygiene in food shops should be optimum. And people working there should consider it as a priority. I've lived in Switzerland and Sweden and I can notice the difference with France when it comes to this matter... Not in a good way.
How come people are not aware of this problem? Because they probably don't smell anything. Some must use liters of those awful perfumes that stink for so long. Do they smell that bad naturally? Can this be good for them ? I don't know. I know it's just not good for me. And then, how can those people taste what they eat? Smell and taste are intimately linked. In an era that turns chefs into heroes and cooking shows into worldwide money-makers, how come people don't pay more attention to smells? Can they even taste food properly, or is it just a posh "faking it"?
In any case, we now live in a world of horrendous chemical/toxic smells. Woodburners, cigarettes, diesel, detergents, perfumes, handcreams... you name it. To me, this is all pollution. It's also an offence to my right to breath and buy food that doesn't smell anything else than its own smell!
Who wants their apples to smell like the cashier's handcream? Not me.