Knowing Where Your Food Comes From

I recently received an e-mail from Vivian, describing how bar codes on food tell you the country of origin. This is of great interest to many of us, who for many reasons, want to buy American, or NOT buy from certain countries. The main concern of this e-mail was how to avoid buying from China, which does not have the same food standards as the U.S. It said that any bar code that began with 690-695, indicated China as the country of origin. As I researched this further, I found this to not be entirely true. The matter is complicated, with several bar codes being used globally. One code tells the country of origin, one code tells where the food was processed or distributed. Very confusing. I am copying here an article I found at the website tropicpost.com, which might clear some of this up.

  Knowing the country of origin of your food is so important. Several years ago Trader Joe's was selling fish from China. I talked to the manager of the store and told him I was not buying fish from China. Within several months, the fish from China was discontinued. Public pressure can change things. We need to speak up if we don't like something. You can make a difference. Here's further information on bar codes from the website tropicpost.com.

"Many people are being led to believe, through a well circulated email, that the first three digits of the bar code on food packets, reveals the country of origin of the contents. This would unfortunately appear to be another ‘urban legend’.

The first three digits of a barcode, merely reveal in which country the barcode was assigned, not in which country the product originated.

Here is a direct quote from GS1 website, with a Google ranking of 6:
◦GS1 Prefixes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product. They simply provide number capacity to different countries for assignment from that location to companies who apply. Those companies in turn may manufacture products anywhere in the world.

On their prefix-list page you can read the full list of GS1 numbers and the country they relate to. The United States is 000-019; United Kingdom 500-509; Australia 930-939; China 690-695.

However, most companies are required to show where the food was processed, or packaged. Most home branded Australian products will have an Australian 93 barcode, regardless of the ingredients source.

Under the Trade Practices Act a food product can legally be described as ‘Australian Made’, if it has been substantially transformed (mixed or blended, seasoned, cured or homogenized) in Australia and at least 50% of the production costs have been incurred in Australia.

To confuse the picture even more, there’s more than one kind of bar code in use around the world. UPC bar codes, the type most commonly used in the United States, do not typically contain a country identifier. A different type of bar code known as EAN-13 does contain a country identifier, but it’s more commonly used in Europe and other countries outside the U.S.

Even in the case of EAN-13 bar codes, the digits associated with country of origin don’t necessarily specify where the product was manufactured, but rather where the bar code itself was registered. A product manufactured in China and processed in France, could have an EAN-13 bar code identifying it as a French product.

Looking for a ‘Made in XYZ’ label is generally helpful, but with regard to food and beverages, there’s no sure-fire way to determine in every case, where a product, or its components originated.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration mandates country-of-origin labeling on many food products, but there are exceptions, most notably the entire category of “processed foods.” Consumer groups are currently advocating the closure of these loopholes."

It seems clear to me that food producers are trying to muddy the waters, rather than help the consumer. Hopefully consumer groups are on top of this issue and will make these bar codes easier for us to understand.