Are The Stickers On Fruit Actually Edible?

It happens to the best of us -– you're enjoying a or crunchy apple, when you suddenly realize you've inadvertently eaten the sticker. Your life briefly flashes before your eyes. It feels like the first time you swallowed chewing gum or a cherry pit.

After a short moment of all-consuming panic, you probably forget all about it ...

until next time. Luckily for all of us, the stickers on fruits and vegetables are generally safe to eat and are unlikely to cause any harm if swallowed. Because they are directly, well, stuck, to edible fruits and vegetables, the FDA mandates that produce stickers be made from GRAS (generally recognized as safe) materials.

However, that doesn't mean you should throw caution to the wind and go around intentionally eating them. The stickers can be a choking hazard for kids, are tasteless, and (to state the obvious) do not provide any nutritional benefit. Still, if you're in a rush and accidentally swallow a sticker with a big bite of your , you can rest assured that you'll be perfectly fine.

What is the purpose of produce stickers? Produce stickers aren't just for decoration — they serve an important purpose. Each sticker is printed with a price look-up, or PLU, code, which makes things much easier for the cashiers ringing up your fruits and vegetables. It's difficult imagining working at a grocery store before PLU stickers.

I mean, could you discern between a and a Honeycrisp at a moment's notice? PLU codes are set by the International Federation .