Ever purchased a product from a supermarket and wondered what those numeric codes at the back of the packet meant? Well, you’ll be glad to know that they’ve been actually put there for a reason. But who puts in those codes and why are they on our food packets? You’ll be amazed to learn that the ISO or International Organization for Standardization has developed several codes for food products. This is to help you understand if you’re making a safe purchase. Know that it’s your right to know what you consume and with these codes, you’ll be able to do just the same.
Imaging glancing through endless details on a food packet, we doubt you’ll be able to do that at a mall or grocery store. This is exactly why the ISO went ahead and classified all food information into codes for our understanding. Let’s give you an example of how this works. Looking into PLU’s or price look-up codes for food products, here’s what you can understand:
PLU codes are usually seen as a four digit number. These help us identify different kinds of produce. For example a four-digit PLU code that begins with either 3 or 4 indicates a traditionally grown product or food. A five-digit PLU code on the other hand that begins with nine indicates food or produce that have been grown organically. You may want to especially look out for five-digit PLU codes that begin with 8 simply because these products would mean genetically modified products. You’d certainly not want to be feeding off these products neither have your kids feed off these.
These codes should ideally give you a heads up on what you’re going to be investing into. We’d recommend that you take the time to analyse what these codes mean and stand for and make purchases accordingly. You could even scan through the bar codes made available on the bar code system to understand more about the product. Unfortunately sometimes, damage to the bar code would not help you with the required information. Make sure to get in touch with customer service for further help. We’d always recommend that you purchase products with bar codes; this should help you make a healthy decision. In addition, you may also want to check with the product’s expiry and manufacturing date before making a purchase. We’d like to assure you that tiny little details such as these would certainly help you in the long run.
Follow Us
