Can we talk about these fruit and veggie stickers and what a hassle it is peeling them off? Some person or machine took the time to slap those bad boys on, and here we are buying fruits and veggies only to peel them off. Is there anything more useless?
Believe it or not, these stickers have more use to them than being a pain in the booty. They not only help the cashiers during check out, but those secret codes can help us understand what we’re putting into our bodies.
Now, let’s crack the sticker code:
Fresh produce will typically have a sticker with the PLU (price look-up) code of either four or five total numbers.
Four digit numbers:
- Starting with the number 3 or 4: Conventionally grown produce with pesticides
Five digit numbers:
- Starting with the number 9: organic
- Starting with the number 8: a genetically modified organism (GMO).
Just remember these few key numbers. Knowing them will help you stay aware of what is going into your body.
Okay let’s talk bananas:
but first… a back story.
Once upon a time I became obsessive about bananas I would buy maybe 10-12 each week to let them sit to blacken, then bake bake bake my favorite banana bread. This obsession eventually got a little out of hand because every time I went to the studio to take a pole class I would just mention to this girl, “I just made banana bread before class and am so full I can barely pole.”
@chrissyteigen I’ve been craving banana bread since your adventures, so i made some. Used 7 bananas, all my own though. i made nana bread by @ambitiouskitchen for the billionth time, it’s my fave
It got to the point where she could freaking call out each time I made some banana bread.
So then I think it was either Thanksgiving or Christmas break I went back to the Chicago ‘burbs. Get this – this same girl texts me and we chit chat for a second and then she goes, “What are you doing, you better not be making that damn banana bread”. But literally in that moment I was making it with my mum.
Long story short she came to conclude I never ate anything except for banana bread (partially true).
THE POINT IS: After this whole phase of mine I could check out and know the code for the organic bananas: 94011. Didn’t even have to look that one up, so now we can go onto the example – bananas!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31064702@N05/5432882835
So now the example:
- Conventonal bananas: #4011
- Organic bananas: #94011
- GMO banana: #84011
But the number 8? These are a rare sighting. With consumers’ caution of GMO’s these days, many companies don’t bother to label them with a sticker because labeling something a GMO is NOT mandatory.
NOW YOU KNOW THOUGH! If you’re one of those koo-koos like myself (it’s actually for the best though) who try to avoid GMOs like it’s the plague, this is a super quick & simple way to stay on top of it.