What are the labels on imported fruits for? How are they marked? What does each number mean?

According to reports, imported fruits are generally labeled with a small label. Generally, the name of the exporting country is marked below the label, the middle English letter indicates the name of the fruit, and the upper English letter indicates the name of the exporting enterprise. What consumers need to pay special attention to is the four Arabic numerals on the label, which are the packaging number of the orchard. The first few digits have different meanings. The most common ones begin with the numbers 3, 4 and 5. Starting with the word 3, it means that the fruit has been sprayed with pesticides; Starting with 4 words, it means genetically modified fruit; Starting with the word 5 indicates that the fruit is a hybrid variety.

"The label attached to foreign fruits is called PLU code (price inquiry code). It was initiated by the American Agricultural Products Marketing Association (PMA).

It can be used as the basis for retailers to develop a database and set the price of fresh products according to the real value. In practice, the Production Electronic Identification Committee (PEIB) under its jurisdiction is responsible for coding and awarding codes.

The four-digit codes used by PLU generally start with "4" and the code range is from 40 1 1 to 4959. Each group of four-digit codes represents a specific combination of variety, specification or grade and place of origin, but the address of individual codes has no special significance. For example, "4 133" stands for "apple, small fuji species and small western producing areas"; "4 135" means "apple, small fuji species, big western producing area". Due to the variety of fruits and vegetables and the emergence of new varieties, "variety" is an open registration project in PLU. However, PLU coding system currently adopts closed regulations on specifications and production areas. The former is only divided into "big" and "small" levels; The latter is bounded by the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, and is divided into two major producing areas: east/middle and west. The main fruit producing areas in the east/middle are new york and Florida, while California and Washington are the leaders in the west. The purpose of classification is to grasp the product flow direction and consumption pattern. By the end of 1997, PEIB had issued 122 PLU codes for Apple. 10 peach; 14 plum; Nectarine) 6. Because the number of four prefixes is not enough, PEIB began to use PLU four-digit code with three prefixes from 1998.

PLU four-digit digital system has been fully popularized in the United States and attracted international attention. For example, Britain once asked to join the PLU system, and most European countries require that imported fruits (no matter where they are produced) must be marked with PLU code. However, the fruit consumption market in most Asian countries does not care about the existence of PLU stickers. On the contrary, their fruit exporters often put imitation PLU stickers on their fruits (apples in Washington state are most often counterfeited), and they have the right to confiscate American fruits and sell them abroad. (Quoted from Introduction to the Four-digit Labeling System of Imported Fruits by Professor Wan from the Department of Agricultural Economics of Zhongxing University in Taiwan Province)