We all enjoy the bitter or sweet and refreshing taste of fruits. Particularly in the summer when there is a host of variety you can choose from.
Also, the list of benefits from fruits and vegetables is endless. From essential vitamins to sugars that provide us with energy throughout the day. But, most of us don’t really pay attention to the stickers that are attached to fruits and vegetables.
The labels contain price lookup numbers or PLU code, and apart from using it to scan the price, they do tell more, if you only know how to read it.
The PLU code on the sticker can help you decide whether the product is organic or genetically modified and produced with fungicides, herbicides, and fertilizers. It is imperative that you learn how to read the labels, in order to avoid buying them.
3 Most Important Things About Fruit Stickers
1. If the 4-digit code on the label begins with the numbers 3 or 4, it means that the product is most likely grown conventionally.
The last 4 digits, on the other hand, designate the kind of vegetables or fruits you are purchasing. For instance, bananas are invariably labeled with the code: 4011
2. If the first digit on the sticker is 8 in a line of 4 other numbers, then the article is genetically modified. In this case, the GMO banana sticker would be: 84011
3. And if the 5 digits row begins with the number 9, that means the product is organic. Whereas labeled bananas would have the number: 94011
The Environment Working Group (EWG) ran a test on pesticide residue data from the F.D.A in order to devise rankings for the products. The utilization of pesticides can cause some serious health problems over time, like nerve damage, birth defects, and even cancer.
Children are more vulnerable to pesticide risk factors than adults. For this reason, we’ve listed the most pesticide-sprayed fruits, to raise awareness for their organic purchase:
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Peaches
- Pears
- Cherries
- Grapes
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Carrots
- Oranges
Furthermore, foods that are tolerably safe and don’t need to be organic for purchase are also slightly more expensive.
Clean 15:
1. Sweet Corn
2. Avocado
3. Pineapple
4. Cabbage
5. Onion
6. Frozen sweet peas
7. Papaya
8. Asparagus
9. Mango
10. Eggplant
11. Honeydew Melon
12. Kiwi
13. Grapefruit
14. Broccoli
15. Sweet Potatoes
According to the EWG, 97% of nectarines, 98% of peaches and a staggering 99% of all apples have at least 1 pesticide inside them.
But, by far the most pesticide-sprayed product on the market is definitely the white potato, containing 5 times the pesticide mass of any other product.