Wow.  I have not one, but two reasons to give a big, bold shout-out of appreciation to Whole Foods Markets.

1)  They recently offered ORGANIC Kents at $1.50 apiece. Enough said!  (January 2011)

2)  They did something *very* cool with labeling that I have not seen other stores do.

First, some back story about PLUs  (produce look-up codes).  For some asinine reason that I do not understand, the Mango Board advocates and promotes a PLU regimen for mangoes that is NOT helpful to consumers.  To be fair, they didn’t start the system.  In fact, the International Federation for Produce Standards is probably to blame and in later posts I will dig deeper about the history.

In a nutshell, you know when you buy produce and you see those little stickers?  Well, those little stickers have numbers, which is the fruit or veggie’s PLU.

Now get this.  Despite the vast differences in quality, Kent, Tommy Atkins, and Haden mangoes all share the same numbers! (As an aside, these are typically 4051 or 4959 depending on the size…and in the sticker below Whole Foods is using what’s called a “retailer assigned” PLU for these Kents instead of the standard 4051 or 4959.   The “9” that begins the number is an organic designation)

Anyway, back to my point. For cripes sake, since the mango varieties are SO different, they should each have their own PLU!   That way, a shopper could at least learn the number for the variety they like most, and then rely on the number to select decent mangoes, since it IS a fact that mangoes can be hard to tell apart.

OR….retailers/importers could do what Whole Foods has done. In fact, because of its simplicity, I prefer it!  Take a look at this beaut of a sticker.

Not only does it have the industry PLU on it, BUT Whole Foods went to trouble of labeling the mango:  Organic KentMango Peru… Now there’s a breakthrough for consumers seeking the real deal mango experience!  It’s a Kent.  Not a Tommy!  Sold!

I’m telling you, this is huge.  Why? because now a mango novice doesn’t have to worry about accidentally selecting a Tommy Atkins mango and being robbed of the real deal mango experience.

If I were a mango importer, this is *exactly* the kind of labeling I would put on my fruit.  And who knows.  Maybe I’ll start a new venture.  No Tommys.  Only the best for my customers.  The trusted brand:  Mango Maven!

So thank you Whole Foods for going the distance.  I’ll do my best to get the word out about just how important this extra effort in labeling is….WELL DONE!!!   MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

(And to my mango fans, please let me know if other retailers deserve this labeling praise…and send pics.  I’ll post the praise!)