Beware Black Market GS1 Barcodes

“Pstt, hey buddy, wanna buy a barcode?”

Drugs with ‘Made in India’ Label In Nigeria May Have Come from China

Okay, we continue to see bad actors in the supply chain and they continue to be . . .

Fake Product Clues: Barcodes, Certification Marks… and Spelling?

Local broadcast news outlets routinely run stories warning viewers about the dangers of faulty, counterfeit

GS1 UK Pharma Track and Trace Pilot a Sign of Counterfeiting Trends?

Counterfeit drug seizures throughout the European Union (EU) increased 500% in 2005, which is apparently the last year for which there are contemporary figures. This story in PharmTech 

In Korea, Biggest Barcode Problem on Drugs is . . . No Barcode At All

The specific stats in this story, which I think comes out of Korea, aren’t easy to reconcile or fathom, but the main point is clear:

GS1 Labeling UK Pilot, Funded by EU, Validates Pharma Track and Trace

Dave Bailey, writing for computing.co.uk, provides a brief report on the outcome of a pilot program to test GS1 standards for their ability track and trace pharma

Buying GS1 Labels From Other Countries (Implied COO) Doesn’t Hide The Crimes: Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping Get Death Sentences

Tainted milk products were discovered and reported in China last September. Less than five months later

95% of Americans Want COO Labeling On Packaged And Processed Foods But Wait . . . There’s More.

[Editor's note: the country of origin (COO) label issue continues to gain momentum. We've touched on labeling COO in a number of posts and examined the topic, both its myths and realities. This latest post by Sterling raises the bar further on this because

Fighting OxyContin Counterfeiting and Diversion with RFID and GS1 Labeling Software

In an email forwarded to me recently, I became aware of a new two-page case study about Purdue Pharma expanding

Why Put Melamine in China’s Supply Chain?

This post is rated PG for parental guidance. It features this link where, in great detail, you can get an up close and personal look, literally, at how and why

Musings On GS1 Compliance, Country Of Origin In Barcodes, And Untrustworthy Suppliers

We’ve been fascinated lately by the traffic on this blog to my recent post on country of origin (COO) not being identified by the country franchise code in the GS1 barcode. The post recieves an ever larger number of fresh reads a day

GS1 Barcode Country Designation Not a Certain Identifier of COO…? Oh Oh!

Knowing where a given product was actually made never seemed very important way back when. Who made it, yes. When? Yes. But where exactly? Not so much.
But that all changed when recent events in China revealed some manufacturers’ preference for putting plastic in milk to fake out inspection tests

GS1 Barcode Compliance: Country Origin Code Confusion Continues to Abound

I was passed the URL for this blog with a post entitled, “How To Identify Imported Goods Before Purchasing!!!!” It seems fairly certain of itself:
The first three digits of the barcode that start with either 690, 691, or 692 indicate that the product is made in China. The first three digits of the barcode that [...]

This Counterfeit Product News May Make Your Hair Curl

It seemed at first an innocent enough piece of news: HIGH Street store Superdrug yesterday recalled a batch of hair styling irons over fears they don’t meet electrical safety standards. A manufacturing problem? Well, yes. But I dug a little deeper to discover this is a much bigger problem than that.

Excuse me, but are those GS1 barcodes in your purse?

You’ve probably never heard of Terra Victoria Schwanke. But according to this story in the Winona Daily News yesterday, she is a 35-year-old woman who goes shopping with a purse containing a photo album with pages of barcodes sorted and divided by store names including Fleet Farm, Walmart, Target and Kmart.

Will GS1 Compliance Solve the Question, “Where was this product made?”

Edward Skading is a senior citizen in Malaysia that is in the midst of a beef he has over a product carrying a barcode from a company in Thailand, but that he says was manufactured in Malaysia per the product’s label.