Barcode country of origin e-mail is bogus

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Story Published: Dec 23, 2008 at 8:59 AM PST

By Herb Weisbaum

There's a mass e-mail making the rounds. It asks the question, "Where was it made?" The answer, it says, the first three digits of the barcode. Then it gives a list of country codes. This is supposed to make it easier for you to spot products made in China. All of this is bogus information.

"You cannot figure out where a product was made from the bar code that's printed on the box it comes in," says Jon Mellor with GS1 US, the non-profit organization that sets bar code standards.

"If you want to find out that information about a product you really need to look elsewhere on the box."

Bar code numbers are keys to a database. When the item is scanned at the register the computer uses that number to find the price of the item stored in its database. So what do those first digits mean?

"The first two or three digits can tell you where a bar code was issued, but it tells you nothing about where the product was actually manufactured."

For instance, an American company could have its toys made in China and the bar code issued the U.S. or vice versa. The UPC code won't tell you that. Get this email -- hit delete.

For More Information:

http://www.gs1us.org/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?TabId=123&DMXModule=506&Command=Core_Download&Method=attachment&EntryId=324&PortalId=0

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