Food-Info.net : Can you determine the origin (country) of a product from... http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp121.

htm

Can you determine the origin (country) of a product from the

barcode ?
Bar codes are something most of us never think about. If you look in your fridge or pantry right
now, you will find that just about every package you see has a bar code printed on it. In fact,
nearly every item that you buy in a grocery shop, supermarket or superstore has a bar code on it
somewhere.
Bar codes were first used commercially in 1966, but it was soon realised that there would have to
be a common standard. By 1970, the Universal Grocery Products Identification Code (UGPIC)
was written by a company called Logicon Inc. The standard was further improved and led to the
Universal Product Code (UPC) symbol set. To this very day, this standard is used in the United
States and Canada . In June of 1974, the first UPC scanner was installed at a Marsh's
supermarket in Troy, Ohio, and the first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's Gum.
The Universal Product Code was the first bar code symbology widely adopted. Its birth is usually
set at 3 April 1973, when the grocery industry formally established UPC as the standard bar code
symbology for product marking. Foreign interest in UPC led to the adoption of the EAN
(European Article Numbering) code format, similar to UPC, in December 1976.
Currently, the United States and Canada use UPC bar codes as their standard for retail labelling,
whereas the rest of the world uses EAN. Since January 1, 2005 all retail scanning systems in the
USA must be able to accept the EAN-13 symbol as well as the standard UPC-A. This change will
eliminate the need for manufacturers who export goods to the US and Canada to double-label
their products.
The first 2 (sometimes 3) digits, which are called the “flag”, indicate in what country the bar code
was issued. This “flag” does not tell you, however, in what country the product was produced.
The country codes used are :

CODE COUNTRY

00-13 USA & Canada

20-29 reserved for local use (shops/supermarkets)

30-37 France

380 Bulgaria

383 Slovenia

385 Croatia

387 Bosnia-Herzegovina

400-440 Germany

45 Japan

46 Russian Federation

471 Taiwan

474 Estonia

475 Latvia

476 Azerbaijan

477 Lithuania

478 Uzbekistan

479 Sri Lanka

480 Philippines

481 Belarus

482 Ukraine

484 Moldova

485 Armenia

486 Georgia

487 Kazakhstan

489 Hong Kong

49 Japan

50 UK

520 Greece

1 of 3 12/2/2010 8:13 PM
Food-Info.net : Can you determine the origin (country) of a product from... http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp121.htm

520 Greece

528 Lebanon

529 Cyprus

531 Macedonia

535 Malta

539 Ireland

54 Belgium & Luxembourg

560 Portugal

569 Iceland

57 Denmark

590 Poland

594 Romania

599 Hungary

600-601 South Africa

609 Mauritius

611 Morocco

613 Algeria

619 Tunisia

621 Syria

622 Egypt

624 Libya

625 Jordan

626 Iran

627 Kuwait

628 Saudi Arabia

629 United Arab Emirates

64 Finland

690-692 China

70 Norway

729 Israel

73 Sweden

740 Guatemala

741 El Salvador

742 Honduras

743 Nicaragua

744 Costa Rica

745 Panama

746 Dominican Republic

750 Mexico

759 Venezuela

76 Switzerland

770 Colombia

773 Uruguay

775 Peru

777 Bolivia

2 of 3 12/2/2010 8:13 PM
Food-Info.net : Can you determine the origin (country) of a product from... http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp121.htm

777 Bolivia

779 Argentina

780 Chile

784 Paraguay

785 Peru

786 Ecuador

789 Brazil

80-83 Italy

84 Spain

850 Cuba

858 Slovakia

859 Czech Republic

860 Serbia & Montenegro

869 Turkey

87 Netherlands

880 South Korea

885 Thailand

888 Singapore

890 India

893 Vietnam

899 Indonesia

90 -91 Austria

93 Australia

94 New Zealand

955 Malaysia

958 Macau

977 ISSN (International Standard Serial Number for periodicals)

978 ISBN (International Standard Book Number)

979 ISMN (International Standard Music Number)

3 of 3 12/2/2010 8:13 PM