Fruit label: organic or Conventional or Genetically Modified Grown
By karlim
@karlim (122)
Singapore
May 30, 2011 2:10am CST
Hi all, this is my first post and I would like to share something interesting about the fruit label.
So, have you ever wonder what does the number on a fruit sticker mean? The sticker is not just for branding but can actually tell you how the fruit was grown, and by reading the PLU code on the fruit label, you can tell if the fruit was organically grown or genetically grown.
For example:
1) Organically grown fruit: PLU code consists of 5 numbers and begins with 9 (e.g.93071)
2) Genetically Modified grown fruit: PLU code consists of 5 numbers and begins with 8 (e.g. 84866)
3) Conventionally grown fruit:PLU code consists of 4 numbers (e.g. 4105, 3279)
Hope it is helpful to you, and Cheers!
1 person likes this
5 responses
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
30 May 11
Welcome to My Lot. 
Does this apply everywhere around the world? I haven't seen it before! I get my fresh produce from the organic market, labeled with the name & address of the grower. You've got GM fruit? Wow... I hope it never comes to that down here.
Thank you for the information.
Does this apply everywhere around the world? I haven't seen it before! I get my fresh produce from the organic market, labeled with the name & address of the grower. You've got GM fruit? Wow... I hope it never comes to that down here.
Thank you for the information.@karlim (122)
• Singapore
30 May 11
Hi Veganbliss, Thanks for you reply. Parle239 is right, it is not applicable all around the world, but more relevant to all the fruits came from US, for instance, most Sunkist oranges are conventionally grown in California and Arizona and it is a popular brand in many South East Asia countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand..etc
Veganbliss, Have you heard of Sunkist Orange in Australia?
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
30 May 11
I've heard of the brand, but it's not popular here & not stocked at all in most places. We're well aware of buying foods out of the US with GM implications & generally won't touch anything that's not USDA certified organic. I'll keep an eye out for these labels though. Thanks.
@cream97 (29086)
• United States
6 Jun 11
Hi. karlim. Where can you find this number to? Would this happen to be the same sticker, that sticks on plums, bananas and apples? I have seen the stickers on these fruits and I wonder if this is what you are referring to. I do like the information that you have given to us though. This is very helpful information that tells consumers how fruits are actually grown. I prefer for fruits that I eat to be grown, organically.
@Susanayako1988 (350)
• China
30 May 11
This is interesting. I have never noticed this before. Genetically modified is easy to understand. But I don't get the difference between organic and conventional growing methods.
@parle239 (58)
• India
30 May 11
you r very much right, but it is not applicable all around the world. in many countries generally in market we have these fruits unlabeled so we can not identify their origin. now a days most of them are organically grown in the developing countries because conventional methods do not reproduce as much as demand is there and GM crops are too much expensive to sell in the local market.
