Health & Fitness
How To I.D. Genetically Modified Food at the Supermarket
Cliff Keith has been an urban gardener in Redwood City where he raised his family and served them his organic fruits and vegetables. If you are concerned about GMO's this is a must read.
Can you tell the difference?
Most of us don’t realize that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not need our food labeled for us to see food that is genetically modified. It seems the FDA has decided that you and me, the consumer, don’t care if the crossbred vegetable you’re eating with several frog genes to make the vegetable more resistant to cold weather.
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Unlike me, a lot of consumers aren't concerned with eating “Frankenfood” , but for those who are like me, here’s how to decide if the fruits and vegetables you’re buying are genetically modified.
Marion Owen provides this valuable information on ways to read these PLU codes. Good job Marion, we salute you. Here’s how it works;
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For conventionally grown fruit, (grown with chemicals inputs), the Price Look Up code (PLU code) on the sticker they put on fruit now a days, consists of 4 numbers.
Fruits and vegetable that have been grown organically have a five-numeral PLU code prefaced by the number 9.
Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU code prefaced by the number 8.
For example:
A conventionally grown banana would be: 4011
An organic banana would be: 94011
A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be: 84011
This information is especially important now because over 80% of all processed foods in the US are genetically modified. Can you believe that?
Many countries in the Europe have been banning GM products from their store shelves (including Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg).
“Eat healthy, buy or grow organic if you can”.
