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The Secret Green Code

How to read produce codes to ensure organic produce

While I may not be skillful enough with my pen to write an award-winning comedy, I'm quite certain I could craft a reality show that would leave people in stitches ... even if it merely started and ended with the pilot episode. It would consist of a camera man following me into the produce section of the grocery store.

How I came about to be the one doing all the grocery shopping has less to do with my interest in food and more to do with my wife's experiment in swapping traditional gender roles. While I haven't yet been able to convince her to cut the grass for me, I traipse off once a week to the grocery store and find a natural-born comedy in the produce section. I once went to each section seeking scallions, unable to find the label. I quit in frustration, only to learn that that scallions were the same as green onions. Grrrr.

I also enter rich comedy soil when I ask other shoppers (read: women) how to tell if certain fruit is ripe enough. Do I thump it? Do I shake it? Do I sniff it? It's different for different varieties, too. Why does it have to be this difficult?

And while I've purchased my share of "un-organic fruit", I have found a new resource to prevent such a comedy of errors again in Green Living: The E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on Earth. Check out this helpful tip on how to ensure you always select organic produce:

"While at the produce counter, you can tell whether a zucchini or a Hawaiian-grown papaya are genetically engineered or organic by employing this little-known strategy: Look at the code printed on the tiny sticker stuck on the produce. If the PLU code begins with the number 9, it’s organic. Conventionally grown fruits and vegetables bear a code beginning with 4. If the code begins with an 8, the produce is genetically engineered—making this the only genetic engineering label in the United States. While this numbering system is handy for ensuring that you picked up organic fruit instead of the conventional variety, it’s unlikely that you’ll pick up a piece of genetically engineered produce. Very few varieties are sold."

Great

| iiveekee | Nov 4th, 2009

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