Just What Are the Little Stickers on Fruit and Vegetables Trying to Tell Us?

As many people are aware – fruits and vegetables that you buy from grocery stores (like Earth’s General Store) have little plastic stickers on them. These stickers carry information on them – mostly to help store staff identify and correctly price these items. The numbering system is controlled by the International Federation of Produce Standards. This is the organisation that create and control the 4 digit base code for produce. This four digit code is called a Price Lookup Code or PLU for short. This four digit code can provide information to the retailer to let them know the difference between a field and a hot house tomato. The little sticker can also have added information on it like which country it comes from. And there is more…

GMOs in Organic Food?

People often ask me whether certified organic food has GMOs and I say – “no”. This is a qualified “no” insofar that the grower starts with land that has not had any synthetic fertilizer or pesticides on them for a minimum of three years, the soil has been enriched with organic matter (compost), had the soil tested and their records reviewed by a certification board, and the seeds they placed into the soil were seeds that were not genetically modified/genetically engineered. BUT, that does not mean that after going through this whole process that the crop is then not contaminated by seeds dispersed into their fields by birds/animals or the pollen blown into their fields. The grower did not start off with the intention of having GMOs in their product. I don’t think they should be tarred with the same brush of a crop that is grown on land that has used synthetic herbicides/pesticides and planted with GMO seeds.

GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) Avoidance – or Not. The Choice is Yours.

GMO

Many years ago tobacco companies denied that their product was a cause of many illnesses and were not addictive. This denial tactic was used as a delaying tactic so that they continue racking in the huge profits that their industry provided them and their shareholders. Besides denying the connection between tobacco and illnesses these corporations also brought expert witnesses to the debate confused the issue for the average citizen. These tobacco companies were smart and diversified their holding with the huge profits they made from the tobacco portion of their corporation.  Kind of like a mob boss buying a legitimate business to launder their other ill gotten gains and look somewhat respectable.