How to identify GMO produce by the PLU code
 

A Method to Help Identify Genetically Modified Foods

http://www.purezing.com/living/toxin...ns_id_gmo.html

You can also download the International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS) guide here:

http://www.plucodes.com/docs/IFPS-pl...sers_guide.pdf

Page 17 has more information on this.

Useful tip; thanks a lot!

You're welcome.

Interestingly, last night I went food shopping to discover my local market is being overhauled. They have a brand new, large refrigerated section that has a lot of organic foods. I was amazed.

I'm sure they wouldn't have gone through the expense and the trouble unless there was a good market trend towards such a thing. It's a positive sign that things are changing! :)

I usually buy normal produce but sometimes I buy organic when it's not outrageously expensive. I do think that it would be a good idea to buy it more often and I would probably buy mostly organic if I had a bigger paycheck. I really like organic winter squash, it's sweeter than the regular kind in my opinion. I also really like organic strawberries.

I think for me personally avoiding the "8" would be more important than always getting the "9". They might be doing something weird like putting some kind of human genes in the 8 produce for all I know (probably not, but I have heard of weird stuff like using animal genes in produce that causes problems for some people who follow religious diets, thankfully I don't generally have that prohibition although I would obviously avoid anything with human in it).

I hear you about price. For the most part I'm not buying organic but would buy more if the prices were comparable to regular. So far I've just tried some organic veggies and really haven't noticed a difference in flavor.

The real difference is the popcorn I've been eating lately. I found "Fireworks" on the website that sounds like a tropical rain forest, and it's priced pretty much equal to Orville R. For sure it's got a better flavor and the company claims that it's because they are using heritage seeds, just like the corn granny used to eat.

But this is a journey. Perhaps we'll get into it with more organic as time goes on, or we'll just start growing our own veggies. Honestly GMO doesn't freak me out or anything, it's just one of those things I'm very weary about and given the choice I try to avoid it. Unfortunately we're at a point in history where our engineered foods are a giant, unproven experiment. 50 years from now the data will be in.

I probably eat a lot of GMO food anyway because I eat canned veggies sometimes and frozen ones and frozen fruit in bags and canned soups, etc. I don't get overly freaked out by it either but given the choice, I'd like to minimize it somewhat since we really don't know what's going on with it yet as you said.

It's really challenging to avoid all GMO foods but like you said if we try at least its healthier than not caring at all. I have discovered in my quest to remove gmo that it has eliminated 90% of processed foods so very helpful to my weight loss.:) Corn,soybean and canola are in most foods so total avoidance is really hard but if we avoid those middle isles of the grocery store we are well on our way. I am a big organic supporter but I will also choose local as the cost can be lower and their are advantages to buying local. I do believe the more of us that choose organic the better the pricing will become but you are right we have to shop wisely and within our budget. I am happy that more people seem to be questioning GMO and thinking organically I really believe we need to take our food rights back from large corporations. I also hope that my new thinking with GMO foods will help maintain my weight loss this time around as it's changed the way I shop and eat.
Have a great day.

Here's an interesting update to this topic of GMO foods.

I've recently tried Fireworks brand popcorn because of the amazon reviews and because it's GMO free. But it doesn't state if it's organic, so they probably use standard pesticides on this corn just like regular, GMO popcorn. This is probably why there is no "9" in the PLU code. No problem there, just stating what I've found.

My question arose when looking at Orville Redenbacher White popcorn. Was it non GMO? Probably not one would think, as it's produced by Conagra. Yet the container of popcorn DOES NOT have an "8" in the PLU code, so it's possible that the product is GMO free, one would think.

So I emailed Conagra a few weeks ago and asked them whether their product was GMO or not. Here is the reply (bold for emphasis):


So from this reply it seems safe to conclude that this popcorn probably is GMO even though this is not specified in the PLU code. And they can get away with this because "when an approved biotech food is virtually the same as its traditional form and its nutritional content is not changed significantly, the FDA does not require special labeling."

Therefore, the PLU codes are not the be all to end all. It looks like only products that are SIGNIFICANTLY modified will have this designation of "8".

This is almost identical word for word from my reply when I wrote Kashi about my bars!!! Good for you for asking. I removed most corn/soybean/canola from my diet its impossible to remove it all unless you never eat out or go to a friends for dinner and even my natural food store is clearly telling us that cross contamination of crops is so rampant in north america that even organic crops are being effected by gmo crops. I figure if we try at least maybe our little voices may have an impact look how many more organics are out today and its growing because people are asking for them.:)
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Darlene. I figured you'd find that interesting. ;)

I read somewhere that the requirements to be certified "organic" are very stringent, and the foods that receive this rating must also take into account cross contamination from GMO fields. Supposedly the organic produce must be far enough away that this can't happen. Yet it's still anyone's guess, isn't it?

Like you say, we do the best we can and shouldn't sweat the things we can't control. :)

Vito