Friday, 29 August 2008

Fruit Codes


I was buying some apples when I stumbled upon stickers on some apples that got me puzzled; it used to be that fruits, particularly imported ones carry labels or stickers of their producers. However, this time I noticed some numbers on the label. A google search revealed that these numbers are codes assigned to the ways fruits are grown.

Here is the info:

  • Conventional fruit labels: 4 digits and does not start with 9. They start mostly with the digit 4. The apple above is one conventionally grown with herbicides and fertilizers
  • Organic fruit labels: five digits and start with the number 9, say for example 99222
  • Genetically modified fruit: starts with the number 8, say for example 89222.
So, folks check your labels when you buy your fruits.

1 comment:

  1. The information about code numbers on sticker labels on fruits is fascinating. I had no idea. I thought the numbers were used to index the product for the grocery store inventory. I didn't know there was some important meaning in the numbers. Good to know.

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