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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Deciphering Fruit and Veggie Stickers

I learned this recently and it's been helpful.

You know those coded stickers on fruits and vegetables? Well, they tell you how that food was grown. For example:
  • A conventionally grown product (grown with chemical assistance) will have a 4 digit PLU code starting with the number 4. (Example: conventionally grown Red Delicious apple: 4015)

  • An organic product will have a 5 digit code starting with the number 9. (Example: organic Red Delicious apple: 94015)

  • A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) product will have a 5 digit code starting with the number 8. (Example: GMO Red Delicious apple: 84015)
I learned an easy way to remember this:
  • 4 is a bore
  • 8 I hate
  • 9 is fine
Information found here.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 7, 2009 at 1:20 PM

    Interesting! My necterine's # is 3035...any idea about that?
    Devy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heather AJuly 7, 2009 at 1:53 PM

    Hi Devy! I did look up the numbers that start with 3 and, from what I understand, they are assigned to specific fruits (mostly citrus, from what I can tell) but the 3 means the same thing as 4. I noticed that some of my fruit stickers on my cupboard start with 3.

    It seems that the 4-digit numbers, whether they start with 3 or 4, means normally produced (using chemicals) produce. It's when you see 5 digits that you can decipher whether the produce was genetically engineered (starting with 8) or is certified organic (starting with 9).

    I have no idea why regular produce starts with mostly 4 and sometimes 3. Why not 2, for example?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 7, 2009 at 2:10 PM

    Hi,Heather.
    Testing, testing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heather AJuly 7, 2009 at 2:38 PM

    Got your "test", anon! Welcome to my team!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 7, 2009 at 2:50 PM

    Thanks for the info, Heather!
    Devy

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 8, 2009 at 8:35 PM

    Hey, Heather! I've been following things second-hand through Dev, but I had to post a response to this one. As you might guess, I'm more than a little suspicious of stuff like this, so I did some research. First off, the info seems to be solid. The linked site tried to have official references, but the links are broken. Try this PDF: http://www.plucodes.com/docs/IFPS-plu_codes_users_guide.pdf

    In a nutshell, the code is actually 5 digits, but the only leading digits currently defined are 0, 8, and 9 are currently defined. 0 indicates a 'normal' crop and is optional, hence the '4 is a bore'.
    ronp

    ReplyDelete
  7. Heather AJuly 9, 2009 at 10:33 AM

    Hi Ron,

    Thanks for the supportive research and for the improved link. Yes, I also saw that the "0" is typically supposed to be ahead of the "4" or "3" making them 5 digits. I wish they would just be consistent. Well, I guess they consistently don't use the 0.

    I notice that I don't have a single "8" in the sticker collection on my kitchen cupboards that has been growing for at least 8 years. That's good.

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the word verification thing. Without the comment spammers are relentless!

Thanks for commenting!