The first digit identifies the numbering system. The next five digits identify the manufacturer, while the second five digits identify the specific product. The last number is a check digit.

“PLU stickers, or price lookup codes, are meant to offer grocers an easier way to check out and inventory produce. The numbers on them do have a purpose: A four-digit number preceded by a ‘9’ means organic, and preceded by an ‘8’ means genetically modified.

On loose fruits and vegetables, look at the Price Look Up (PLU) sticker. If the produce is organic, the code will contain five-digits beginning with 9. Non-organic counterparts will have four digits. (Example: Organically grown bananas will be 94011, compared to 4011 for those treated with chemicals and pesticides.)

Identify how produce is grown by reading its label or sticker number.

1. 4-digit number means food was conventionally grown.
2. 5-digit number that begins with a 9 means produce is organic.
3. 5-digit number that begins with an 8 means it is genetically modified. (

Most commonly found in crops such as soybeans, corn and canola, GMOs are designed to provide a higher nutritional value to food, as well as protect crops against pests. Organic foods, on the other hand, do not contain any pesticides, fertilizers, solvents or additives.

What GMO crops are grown and sold in the United States?

• Corn: Corn is the most commonly grown crop in the United States, and most of it is GMO.
• Soybean: Most soy grown in the United States is GMO soy.
• Cotton:
• Potato:
• Papaya:
• Summer Squash:
• Canola:
• Alfalfa:

Top 10 Most Common GMO Foods

• Soy. Up to 90% of soybeans in the market have been genetically modified to be naturally resistant to an herbicide called, Round Up.
• Corn. Half of the US farms growing corn to sell to the conglomerate, Monsanto, are growing GMO corn.
• Canola oil.
• Cotton.
• Milk.
• Sugar.
• Aspartame.
• Zucchini.

7 Most Common Genetically Modified Foods

• Corn. Almost 85 perecent of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified.
• Soy. Soy is the most heavily genetically modified food in the country.
• Yellow Crookneck Squash and Zucchini.
• Alfalfa.
• Canola.
• Sugar Beets.
• Milk.

Canola berries fall into the realm of common genetically modified foods. Canola oil, also known as rapeseed oil, is one of the most heavily used genetically modified crops. In Western Canada, 80 percent of canola crops are transgenic.

While nearly all foods today have been genetically modified or altered in some way through years of selective breeding, oranges are not an example of a GM crop because they have not had their genetic makeup altered through bioengineering.

Many countries, including the USA have tried to grow this variety of rice, because it is so popular, but without much success. Thai jasmine rice is not genetically engineered.

This followed a 2016 decision where the US Food and Drug Administration had ruled that the beta-carotene content in golden rice did not provide sufficient amounts of Vitamin A to make a nutritional claim.

Louis and co-author of a new paper in the journal Technology in Society. “And those in the mountains won’t plant it because it has been bred into the lowland varieties of rice known as IR-64 and RSC-82.”

Each of these plant foods can contribute to vitamin A nutrition, although the conversion of the provitamin A carotenoids within them may not be equivalent. Thus, Golden Rice may be a cost-effective staple food for combating vitamin A deficiency in rice-eating populations (29).