May 2021 - With over 1,500 price look-up codes (PLUs) now in use around the globe, the International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS) has launched a user-friendly web app to help users from across the supply chain to source PLUs. The launch of the web app comes at a time when the demand for the voluntary codes, used for price identification at retail point of sale for fresh produce items that are sold individually, is increasing in North America, Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and more recently, Brazil.
The voluntary PLU system has been utilized by the fresh produce industry since 1988 for pricing, inventory control and sales data.
“By expanding accessibility to the PLU system, our goal is to expand adoption of this standardized product identification system and the business efficiencies that result from it,” said Rebecca Lee, chair of the IFPS Board of Directors, and Executive Director of the Canadian Horticultural Council. “This web app makes it just that much easier for everyone to look up numbers, and the website’s search enhancements go a long way to satisfy the fast-growing adoption of PLUs in Spanish-language countries such as Mexico.”
To aid fresh produce shippers who are increasingly being asked to synchronize their data, the mobile web app and the enhanced website search engine now also include a search option for the GS1 Global Classification Code (GPC). The GPC has been updated recently for fruit and vegetables; the app includes mapping between the PLUs and GPC for companies who use PLUs and the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN).
If you have downloaded the previous PLU App, please delete it as it is no longer supported nor up-to-date. The web app can be accessed at to https://m.ifpsglobal.com/. The clean, simple interface makes it easy to access PLU codes on the go. For more information about the use of PLU codes, please visit www.ifpsglobal.com/PLU or email plu@ifpsglobal.com.