Read the numbers on your fruit

Is this true? And does it apply in Canada? I will have to find out...

Another little tidbit gleaned from April's Food & Wine: those sticker numbers on your fruit actually mean something. Here in the US, fruit often comes with stickers on it, sometimes telling you where it's from and/or what it is. There's also a number, but I never paid attention to that. But on p. 72 I spotted this interesting bit of information:

"[T]he sticker labels on fruit: The numbers tell you how the fruit was grown. Conventionally grown fruit has four digits; organically grown fruit has five and starts with a nine; genetically engineered has five numbers and starts with an eight."

Yesterday I checked out the organic apples at the market, and yes, the numbers did indeed have five digits and started with a nine.

Link: Read the numbers on your fruit, via Boing Boing.