When you buy foods that are organically grown and produced, you should check the label. This is most evident with fruits and vegetables. Check them out and see if you could understand them.
Labels and numbers
One of the first things you should do besides peeling of the label is to check and ascertain that the item you are buying is certified organic.
Guide to the numbers
You will notice that the label has a bar code and a string of numbers. How to read this is simple. The code is called the Price Lookup Number or PLU code. Basically, the string of numbers here will tell you how the item was produced.
How many digits are there?
The labels would either come with 4 or 5 digit strings. Check them out and if the string of numbers have:
- 4 digits – This means that the producer used convention way to grow or produce the food. In other words, pesticides were used.
- 5 digits – This is the most dangerous. If the number has 5 digits and starts with ‘8’, then it means that it has been genetically modified (GMO). In other words, if you are going organic, this is the total opposite of what you want.
- On the other hand, if the 5 digit number starts with a ‘9’, it means that the item you are looking at was organically produced. This means that it does not contain any GMO whatsoever.
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