How to read bar codes

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desertrat
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How to read bar codes

Post by desertrat »

An Information Must Share

HOW TO READ BAR CODES... (everyone must know)

ALWAYS READ THE LABELS ON THE FOODS YOU BUY--NO MATTER WHAT THE FRONT OF THE BOX OR PACKAGE SAYS, TURN IT OVER AND READ THE BACK CAREFULLY!

With all the food and pet products now coming from China, it is best to make sure you read label at the supermarket and especially when buying food products. Many products no longer show where they were made, only give where the distributor is located. The whole world is concerned about China-made "black-hearted goods".

Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ? The world is also concerned about GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) foods; steroid fed animals (ex: 45 days old broiler chicken).

It is important to read the bar code to track its origin. How to read Bar Codes....interesting !

If the first 3 digits of the bar code are 690, 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan .
If the first 3 digits of the bar code are 00-09 then it's made or sourced in USA.

This is our right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves. Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA", so they don't show from which country it is made. However, you may now refer to the barcode -

Remember if the first 3 digits are:
890......MADE IN INDIA
690, 691, 692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 - 09 ... USA and CANADA
30 - 37 ... FRANCE
40 - 44 ... GERMANY
471 ........ Taiwan
45 or 49 ........JAPAN
489...........HONG KONG
50 .......... UK
57 .........DENMARK
64..........FINLAND
76.........SWITZERLAND and LIENCHTENSTIEN
471......... is Made in TAIWAN (see sample)
628.........SAUDI ARABIA
629.........UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
740..........745 - CENTRAL AMERICA

All 480 Codes are Made in the PHILIPPINES. Share it!
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Gabes-Apg
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Post by Gabes-Apg »

Mandy / Gabby
firstly - you didnt include Australia or NewZealand in the list?
do you have a website link that i can check what their codes are


secondly - i have three products in my pantry - all MADE in Australa from australian sourced ingredients
the first four digits of these products are:

9300
9310
7205

seems strange that there would be 9 and 7 as the first digit?
Gabes Ryan

"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
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tex
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Post by tex »

Hi Mandy,

Unfortunately, the email you received with that information is a scam. In some cases those prefix numbers might allow identification of country of origin, but certainly not in all cases. For example, a few years ago I manufactured and distributed certain processed grain products, so the larger companies that sold my products required unique bar code identifiers on every product.

Basically, I bought a company code from the Uniform Code Council, that provided a unique identifier for all products that I sold, and I just added my own unique identifiers for the individual products. Over the years, the system has become more complex, as GSI is now the preferred international standard. Back then, the USA used UPC codes (12-digit) and Europe used EAN codes (13 digit). In UPC codes, the first 6 numbers were/are the company code, (which is always the same numbers) and the last 6 were the specific product code, the first 5 of which I specified, and the last digit was calculated from the other numbers (as sort of a parity check number).

My company code is 0-09377, and an example of one of the complete product codes is 0-09377-00102-3. So you see that one does not fit the designation in your post, and it was definitely 100 % produced in this country.

This sheds some light on the information in that email:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/product-bar-codes.shtml

The bottom line is that there have been so many changes in the bar code labeling systems used over that last decade or two that it's virtually impossible to be sure about the meaning of any of the digits.

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
desertrat
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Post by desertrat »

Arrrggh!!! Shoot!

Sounded too good to be true! Funny thing is, this was given to me by a major grocery store manager!!

Wait till I tell him!

Thanks Tex!

Sorry to anyone who got their hopes up ( including mine!!)
:oops:

Mandy
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DebE13
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Post by DebE13 »

Don't be sorry- after all you are just trying to help! It caught my attention. It's frustrating how misleading packaging is.
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tex
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Post by tex »

Well, it probably does work in some cases. It just isn't always reliable.

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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