Beagle is doubtless referring to the scandalous procedure whereby Pursers were allowed to charge/supply at 14 oz to the pound, and the rations ('Salt horse and hard tack, dried peas') could have spent years in barrels travelling between stations.
Still, enough about 1805....
I suspect the original complainant was trying it on a bit, a rotten orange is hardly the pits, but perhaps some of the replies ("nonsense, there's a perfectly respectable restaurant in the hills, 2 Michelin stars and they do surprising things with local truffles in season...") aere a bit off base for what the average SAC encounters <g>