I called Tesco's and Sainsbury's and I even looked around net sites for USA Foodstuffs and the UK Government departments covering info about fruity things!!!! Eventually, via many wild and wacky ideas from loads of bods….I think I've got to the bottom of it and it's DULLLLL. Still, never let it be said that I don't bore you occasionally,,,,,, so here's the bit you ALL want to read (NOT?)….I'll shove this on an Archive section of site as soon as I create one.

"It's more like a bar code than anything else, well sorta!   Notice, it's always a hash (#) followed by 4 digits!! These four magical numbers (Now appearing on FRUIT SKIN NEAR YOU!!) are on most modern stickers and yes, they DO relate to the produce variety and size but have no relevance whatsoever to the packer or grower. (Darn it!)

All PLU numbered fruit gets checked at the check-out point (best place? lol) and here you just may notice a small rotating scroll by the weighing scales that gives the game away! [Historical note: The icon on the check-out till I think, used to be a sheep! ...Why use a sheep to signify fruit? No idea…….ask the nearest BaaahNaaaNaaa !--well I thought sheep-lovers might NEED to know this J

PLU? ….PLU number is (you guessed yet?) 'Product Look-up Number'   WoW!!!! Some people I chatted to corrupted it to 'Price look-up number'.  The numbers … well, they were a 'USA thang' and were pioneered in the States to get over some BIG  problems…..

Back in the 1980's many supermarkets used pre-weighing scales [some chains still do] actually located in the fresh produce departments, where a pre-checkout sticker bar-code got printed out by an assistant near to point of display showing the weight and ID of stuff  selected for your trolley. But, this meant that someone needed to be there to weigh your fruit and veg and mark it…….YES...and when busy, a queue formed just for the weighing/sticking!! No-way did this continue -- as double purchase queuing for the shopper wasn't on!

As the variety of produce grew and grew, so did the difficulty in correctly identifying non pre-coded produce at scales/ check-outs. Delays and queues grew, and a more viable system was needed.

For ease of recognition, some chains elected to introduce parity-pricing--i.e. two varieties at the same price. But, ironically, this brought no uniformity across the fresh produce market as each supermarket chain had its own unique product numbering system--- although parity pricing was a good start to streamlining for those stores who adopted the simplified system. 

The real breakthrough came in the 90's when the universal numbering of variety and size was worked out in the USA with some valuable UK help!  (So said a wonderful guy who's 'been in the business of Citrus Fruit for years', YES YES YES BUY BUY BUY -who's written a great book … I will try to get more details of this for you … 'online-soon.'

wn-brand labels

    So  far I've displayed
   examples of  a broad range
   of fruit growers' branding,
  so I guess that  retailer's
print should get a look-in.
   The Supermarkets send their own-brand labels to the packing houses, around the world, and it is there, that the stickers get put onto the fruit before import by the retail giants.

This is a bit sad for us, 'cause very often the 'own-brand' labels don't say where in the world, or who the grower is, and we can't track our favourite logos which have followed a fascinating path of  design, colour, and font changes.   

The Black and Gold one is Pure Brand but ignores the details that go to make an interesting sticker. Immediately above, an earlier example from Tesco Supermarkets where the Country of origin and the Grower gets a mention.  Pascual Hermanos, S.A., is named as the grower and packer, along with the Region -Valencia, and Country of Origin - Spain, -- the fruit is clearly labelled so we can see where it's coming from.

ell thanks guys for looking in : Hope you'll come again. As I haven't done this sort of thing before, and this is my first web-site, I'd really like a bit of feed back. I'm planning to add / update in a month or so, so please let me know what you'd like to see. I am planning a visitor's book, but in the meantime if you could use the email that'll  be great.

"That's all for now folks" Cheers. <email.uk@btinternet.com>