Key to produce labels

Well, the election is finally over, and mostly it went well. I'm terribly sorry that not enough people were smart enough to vote for Angie. We're all going to regret her loss.

But now I'm on to other things for the moment. One of the issues that lost in California was Initiative 37, to require the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). I'm pleased to report that San Juan County passed an initiative banning the production of GMO crops or animals. Its a good start.

I was very annoyed to hear that Monsanto's $46 million disinformation campaign succeeded in scotching Initiative 37.  So I started looking for ways we could find where GMOs are hiding in our food. I started at the produce section at Payless.

You may have noticed that much of the produce you buy has those annoying little stickers you have to peel off. Those annoying stickers actually provide useful information if you know how to read them. A very helpful produce person at Payless helped me decode the stickers. The code is known as the PLU (Price Look Up) code. Here's the key for you:

if the code has 4 digits, the product has been "conventionally" grown (the first of 5 digits is 0, but is usually left off)

if the code has 5 digits and starts with a 9, the product is organic

if the code has 5 digits and starts with an 8, the product is GMO (genetically engineered)

The helpful produce person told me that Payless buys all its produce from Charlie's Produce in Seattle, and that they purchase no GMO produce. 

I went on line to learn more about these PLU codes, and found that for produce all the numbers are between 3000 and 4999. Checking the produce in my kitchen, I found:

4664 non-organic tomato

94046 organic avocado

94079 organic cauliflower

Knowledge is power, and I hope this knowledge helps you make informed decisions about the produce you buy. Not only will you be eating better, but you'll be voting with your food dollars. 

        It goes without saying that whenever possible you should buy from local producers. Their products may not have stickers on them, but you'll know who grew your food and how, and you'll be voting with your food dollars to support your local economy.