On Healthy Living

I’ve had that Dramarama song stuck in my head all day: “It’s April 21st, and everybody knows today is Earth Day, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to whoever’s bein’ born…”

Which has nothing to do with anything, but it is Earth day (though not April 21st) and though it’s a topic I bring up a lot, it’s worth repeating today that we should all spend more time thinking about where our food comes from.

And I don’t just mean its country of origin, though of course that is important. Is it organic? Full of pesticides? Genetically modified?

Labels are getting better and better at showing you when things are organic or free of growth hormones, but sometimes it can still be tricky to find out what kind of food you are eating. There is a trick, however, when it comes to produce, that is buried inside the PLU code.

Almost all produce in your traditional grocery store has a sticker, tag or bag with a code on it, which is used by the checkout person much like a UPC code is on any other product. This number can tell you if the produce was conventionally grown, organically grown or genetically modified.

A number that is four digits long indicates the attached food is conventional produce (meaning chemical pesticides, fertilizers, etc. may have been used). A number beginning wiht 9 is organic, while an 8 indicates genetically modified foods. These two possibilites will both have five digit PLUs.

If the produce doesn’t have a label (if you’re buying at a farmer’s market, for instance) ask the seller how the food was grown. You have every right not to put strange chemicals into your body if you don’t want to (and you shouldn’t want to). So do your homework and enjoy the great produce of spring. Happy Earth Day!

Sarah White wrote this on April 22nd, 2005 and filed it under Healthy Living, Healthy Cooking, Healthy Eating, Health Foods, Vegetarian Cooking, Raw Foods |