Ever wonder what the numbers on your produce are?

Organic Honey Crisp PLU#93283
Organic Honey Crisp PLU#93283

They are PLU Codes – or “price look-up” codes. They tell the check-out person what your produce (or nuts or herbs) are and how much they are – it also tells you whether or not its organic, conventionally grown or genetically modified (Just say no to GMO!)

Look on the little sticker – all produce will have a 4 digit number. If there is a 9 in front of that number it means it is organic. If there is an 8 in front (I’ve never seen one in my area) it means that it has been genetically modified. If it only has the 4 digit number and it begins with a 3 or 4, it means that it has been conventionally grown. Recently I saw some small red delicious apples with the PLU code 6257. There was another bin of small apples with another 4 digit number starting with a 6. The PLU website doesn’t have that number listed when I did a search. It must be new and I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that both kinds of apples were smaller than normal. I’ll update this as I find out (if you know, let me know!)

plu6286

I’ve seen bins of apples at the market that say they are organic but the bin is full of apples with a 4 digit code starting with a 4. Probably just put in the wrong bin, but many don’t know to look at the PLU code. The codes aren’t always on a little decal – sometimes they are on large tags.

Buy organic when you can for better vitamin and mineral content….and flavor. I loved the organic Honey Crisp apple in the photo -  it was crispy, very juicy and tasted amazing! 

 (Pink Lady apples used to be my favorite until I tasted organic Honey Crisps when I attended the 2 week raw program at Creative Health Institute. That was after 3 days of nothing but wheat grass juice, rejuvelac and energy soup – grated apples and cinnamon for breakfast was orgasmic.)

Jules in love

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2 Responses to “Ever wonder what the numbers on your produce are?”

  • Jules:

    I saw those apples again today with the 6286 and 6257 PLU code. And still it isn’t listed on the PLU site. These stickers both now say “Product of USA” on them. Hmmm. But I am still on the look out for PLUs starting with the 69* numbers. Thanks for the info! Julie

  • barbara:

    greetings. came across your post when I was researching

    PLUs. Produce whose PLUs start with 690.691.692 until

    695 are all made in CHINA. It’s FDA’s way of helping

    consumer make safety decisions about whether to risk

    ingesting milk products that might be contaminated

    w/melamine. Hope that helps.

    barbara
    Washington, DC

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