Edible Apple

Last week, one of Apple’s primary suppliers of the unibody aluminum chassis it uses on its line of MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs was ordered to close down one of its factories following reports from local residents of foul odors emanating from its plants.

The company in question is Catcher Technology, and the plant ordered closed down lies in the eastern Chinese city fo Suzhou. Cather at the time said that the shutdown will affect its October sales by 20%.

This of course isn’t the first time we’ve heard of Apple suppliers in the far east being taken to task for alleged environmental improprieties. Chinese environmental groups in the Summer of 2010, for example, published a report claiming that a number of China-based Apple suppliers were heavy contributors towards pollution.

Well as it turns out, the shutdown will only be temporary as the company will be fully operational once again by the end of October.

This of course is good news for Apple, especially in light of the tremendous Mac momentum its experienced lately. This past quarter Apple reported sales of 4.9 million Macs, an all time quarterly record made all the more impressive given that it was achieved in a non-holiday quarter. Though to be fair, it was back to school season which is an equally prosperous time for Mac sales.