PLU Codes Indicate How Produce was Grown

[Salsacharley]

Here's a way to find out how produce is grown.

[jmsieglaff]

Good info, thanks!

It's amazing how many people freak out at the word hybrid and associate hybrid with GMO. Additionally I think a lot of the perceived problems with GMOs are inaccurate--it isn't the fact that a plant is GMO, but what the GMO plants can tolerate, like being sprayed with ridiculous amount of herbicide. For scientific reasons this may not be even feasible, but suppose someone could capture the genes from a wild tomato relative that was immune to Septoria leaf spot or some sort of wilt and put that into a domesticated tomato variety. So in theory GMO in this case would help support and encourage organic growing methods.

[Worth1]

Thanks for the info Charley.
I know of one product that has been sold for so may years that people have no idea it could fall under the GMO label and have seen lots of people eating it that wouldn't if they knew how it came to be.
Red grapefruit.
Can I ask where the pictuer comes from and who put the information and descriptions of each in it?


Worth

[Fiishergurl]

Oh wow. Very interesting.

Thanks for the info.

Ginny

[Barbee]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Here's a way to find out how produce is grown.

Notice the fine print? Its no wonder people are so confused about organic/conventional/ GMO. This is misleading at best

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Barbee

Notice the fine print? Its no wonder people are so confused about organic/conventional/ GMO. This is misleading at best

This is what I was asking about too in a different way.

[Father'sDaughter]

I wish it were that easy!

Here's an excerpt from Snopes.com on the subject --

"However, it is not the case (as suggested by the above example) that consumers can depend upon PLU codes to reliably distinguish between different forms of produce. For starters, the use of PLU codes is optional, so many produce items don't bear them. Additionally, PLU codes were developed for the benefit of suppliers and retailers to assist them in sorting and pricing produce, not to provide information to end buyers. If retailers don't expect to price organic corn differently than conventionally grown corn, they can label the former with just four digits and omit the leading '9' that identifies it as a genetically modified product.

At this point PLU codes are still more of an unrealized concept than a consistently and universally applied standard, and they were not created for the benefit of consumers, so shoppers concerned about the nature of the produce they buy should rely upon other sources of information."

[Salsacharley]

I got this from a Facebook ad and I thought it was simply info to pass on. I guess I'm too thick to understand why it is misleading. If it is wrong or propaganda...sorry...but...oh well.

[Barbee]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

I got this from a Facebook ad and I thought it was simply info to pass on. I guess I'm too thick to understand why it is misleading. If it is wrong or propaganda...sorry...but...oh well.

Dont be sorry. And please dont take my comment personal. Its not meant that way at all. What I mean by misleading is the fine print under each picture. Under the organic pic, it has all natural. That is true in that all pesticides, etc, have to come from natural sources. But under pic 2 the fine print says uses chemicals and pesticides. Also might be true and might not be true but alludes to organic does not use pesticides at all. We know thats simply not true. Under pic 3 is the word unnatural. Alluding to it being a fake food of some sort. Which we also know is not true. As far as the codes, i dont know if thats true or not.

[Captain Neon]

Working in the food industry, claims such as the above always get the hairy eyebrow from me. An individual retailer or processor may have codes that have certain meanings, but to state that a PLU is some how universal is simply not true. Neither the FDA nor the USDA mandate any coding on products. More often than not, processors are prohibited from making claims than they are mandated to disclose.

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

I got this from a Facebook ad and I thought it was simply info to pass on. I guess I'm too thick to understand why it is misleading. If it is wrong or propaganda...sorry...but...oh well.

Some people just pass things on innocently. Other people make honest mistakes. And a lot of people want to deliberately spread information for an agenda or just for fun. This is why I always research such things before I pass them on in social media. It's a good policy not just to avoid embarrassment (which is not a big deal--we've all fallen victim to Internet hoaxes and misinformation) but mostly to avoid contributing to misinforming people.

Originally Posted by Barbee

Notice the fine print? Its no wonder people are so confused about organic/conventional/ GMO. This is misleading at best

Yeah, that fine print is just wrong. GMO crops are not necessarily grown any more unnaturally than other crops. Organic farming does use chemicals and pesticides. No wonder people have no idea what those labels mean.

Also, there are no GM/transgenic tomatoes being sold commercially today. So that picture is misleading. Although I suppose that's the smallest sin in that particular graphic.

[swellcat]

. . . research such things before I pass them on in social media. It's a good policy, not just to avoid embarrassment (which is not a big deal--we've all fallen victim to Internet hoaxes and misinformation), but mostly to avoid contributing to misinforming people.

Let's not give in to logic and rationality.

[Captain Neon]

I also always check things out before sharing or forwarding. There was a little girl that went missing in an area that I used to live. I'll not get into the circumstances, but her body was found a few days later. After a few months of seeing Facebook postings regarding the little girl's disappearance and privately notifying the poster that the little girl was the victim of a tragedy, I finally had to make a post of my own imploring people to make use of a search engine before posting missing children notices. A few people unfriended me, but a surprising number of people shared anecdotes of local tragedies. Be careful what one shares on Facebook, esp. about missing children, too often the end is tragic and the reminders can be heartbreaking.

[maxjohnson]

Personally I'd like to know if the produces I buy is grown with biosolids or not. Fortunately, I grow all of my own greens.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by maxjohnson

Personally I'd like to know if the produces I buy is grown with biosolids or not. Fortunately, I grow all of my own greens.

I hear that.

Worth