Cooking corner: PLU stickers help checkers, but are they the best method?

Helen Taylor Smith

Cooking corner

As you work to peel off the little stickers on your fruit and some vegetables, do you wonder why they are there and what they mean?

They are called Price Look Up numbers (PLU), and they assist at checkout time by providing the checker the particular type of fruit or vegetable for correct pricing.

For the consumer, it is a guide to how and where the fruit or vegetable was grown.

The Produce Marketing Association and International Federation for Produce Standards set up global standards for the PLU numbers for all produce.

Four-digit numbers indicate produce was conventionally grown and could have been sprayed with chemical pesticides or weed killer.

Five-digit numbers that begin with the number “9” indicate organic produce.

Five-digit numbers that begin with the number “8” indicate genetically modified produce.

Examples: A conventionally grown ear of corn might be marked 4078; organic, 94078; genetically modified (GMO) 84078; and different sizes of fruit can cause numbers to vary indicating small to large.

The tiny stickers might be handy for the checkers at the grocery store, but they are not popular with consumers or the industry itself. Consumers complain they are hard to remove; and for producers, they are messy, expensive and inefficient.

While the stickers have been around for many years, new technology — lasers — are already being used in some areas to replace the pesky little stickers.

The laser-coded information delivery system “tattoos” fruits and vegetables with their names, identifying numbers, countries of origin and whatever other information that speeds up distribution. The laser burns information onto the outer layer of the skin that is visible for both the grocer and the consumer.

With the correct scanning technology, it could even tell who grew it, who picked it and how many calories it has per serving.

A fruit grower and distributor in Georgia bought the patent for the laser-processing method and hired the man who originally patented it to continue working on it for him. The technology works the same way lasers do in surgery: cutting and cauterizing almost simultaneously. The skin of fruit etched with a laser remains airtight, and the mark is as permanent as a tattoo.

Another tracing method being tested is miniaturized bar coding and cameras with advanced recognition technology to identify fruits and vegetables at the checkout counter.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the produce industry has been encouraged to develop “track-and-trace” technology to help protect the food supply at various stages of distribution. In 2006, the government required all imported produce to be labeled with the country of origin.

But for now, the tiny sticker called the PLU serves as the label on most fruits and vegetables, and for the healthiest choice, look for the five-digit label that begins with a “9.”

Be sure to wash all produce, including organic — particularly the ones that will be peeled — to ensure contaminants from having been handled by numerous people will be removed.

Many people get sick from eating fruits and vegetables without washing them first. Protect yourself and your family.

Reach Helen Taylor Smith at thecook@thehealthycook.com.