Ever wonder what the 4 and 5 digit plu codes on the fruits and vegetables in your local grocery store mean? If you’re like most people, including me, I used to just pick out my fruit according to type, color, and less discoloration or bruises.
It turns out that the numbers actually make a huge difference in where the fruit came from and how it was grown. These stickers are put on the fruits so that the it makes it easier for the store workers to determine each variety of produce.
What is The Difference With The PLU Sticker Codes
The difference will determine what price each item is as well. Organic produce will be pricier than genetically modified items.
The differences the stickers reveal are:
- Conventionally grown
- Genetically engineered
- Organically grown
Most items in regular grocery market include foods that are GMO’d or genetically modified.
What The PLU Codes Mean On the Fruits & Vegetables
- Conventionally grown means that the fruit was grown with fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones to allow fruit to grown even in the off season, have greater resistance to last longer, and grows to a bigger size in most cases.
Conventional Sticker Code: 4 numbers (ie: 4025)
- Genetically Engineered means the genes were manipulated to help the larger size and color of the produce. Also means that it may have been chemically treated
Genetically engineered sticker code: 5 digits that start with an “8” (ie: 84125)
- Organically grown means that it wasn’t treated with any chemicals. The best kind but the most priciest.
Organically grown sticker code: 5 digits that start with a “9” (ie: 94125)
History of the PLU Sticker Codes
These stickers have been used since 1990.
If you think about this, there are about 7 billion people in the world today. People need to eat to stay alive so they grow food using chemicals to grow year round, bigger, and faster. With the population growing so fast, it also takes up the land that could be needed in the future to grow more food for the demand.
If food production will need to grow by 50% within the next two decades according to some experts, than how is this possible with the shrinking amounts of land available to grow food because of the growth of the population?
The answer…They manipulate food growth to meet the demands. This is where the diference in the world lies in GMO’d foods and organic.
The PLU codes system is run by the International Federation for Produce Standards. Learn more about the PLU sticker codes on fruit by visiting their website.
Sources:
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