Fixit: Tattooed produce on horizon?

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Fixit: Tattooed produce on horizon?

Pick a pear at the grocery store -- or an apple, tomato or banana, for

that matter -- and you'll notice that it wears a little sticker

containing a mysterious number such as 4035, 94035 or 84011. The

numbers on produce are a code that tells if the fruit or vegetable is

bioengineered, organically grown or conventionally grown (with

pesticides, herbicides, etc.).

 

By Karen Youso, Minneapolis Star Tribune

 

Last update: October 09, 2006 – 4:25 PM

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Pick a pear at the grocery store -- or an apple, tomato or banana, for

that matter -- and you'll notice that it wears a little sticker

containing a mysterious number such as 4035, 94035 or 84011. The

numbers on produce are a code that tells if the fruit or vegetable is

bioengineered, organically grown or conventionally grown (with

pesticides, herbicides, etc.).

 

Here's the key:

 

• A four-digit number means the fruit or vegetable has been

conventionally grown using pesticides or herbicides.

 

• An organically grown fruit or vegetable has a five-digit number

beginning with 9.

 

• Genetically modified produce has a five-digit number beginning with

8. (Not many of these around, though. Most bioengineered food is found

in processed foods.)

 

Called " price look-up numbers, " or " PLUs, " these number codes aren't

intended for consumers. Indeed, no official regulatory agency oversees

them. The Produce Marketing Association, an industry trade group,

developed the numbering system to provide produce sellers a better way

to track inventory and to make sure the price being charged is

accurate. (A conventionally grown tomato may look the same as an

organic one, but the price usually isn't.)

 

Stay tuned, however. Those sometimes irritating stickers may be going

away. You're likely to soon see produce sporting tattoos rather than

stickers. Information laser-imprinted into the skin eliminates the

sticker and, some say, allows for better tracking, tracing and

protection against bioterrorism.

 

Send your questions to Fixit in care of the Star Tribune, 425 Portland

Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488, or call 612-673-9033, or e-mail

fixit. Past columns are available at

www.startribune.com/fixit. Sorry, Fixit cannot supply individual

replies. Fixit appears daily in Source except on Friday and Sunday.