Fact Check: Don’t fall for the barcode hoax - 729 doesn’t mean a product was made in Israel

The barcode prefix “729” does not determine the product's origin. It only shows that the barcode was issued in Israel.

India Today Fact Check

Claim
Barcodes that start with “729” show products manufactured in Israel.

Fact
The barcode prefix “729” does not determine the product's origin. It only shows that the barcode was issued in Israel.

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), a movement promoting economic boycotts against Israel, has gained momentum again. In this context, some social media posts are now suggesting that barcodes starting with “729” denote products manufactured in Israel. An archived version of one such post can be seen here.

India Today found that a barcode does not serve as a means to identify the country of origin or manufacture of a product. The digits “729” only indicate that the barcode number was allocated in Israel.

Our Probe

A keyword search about the body responsible for assigning country codes and prescribing standards for barcodes globally led us to a website of a nonprofit, GS1, which has member organisations in more than 100 countries that work directly with governments to manage barcode standards. The website states that the first three digits of a barcode denote the corresponding GS1 organisation in that country.

The organisation notes that the first three digits of a barcode only determines which GS1 member organisation allocated them. It doesn’t determine where an item was produced or distributed.

Misinformation about barcodes being an identifier of where a product has been manufactured have been known to surface amid geopolitical tensions. It was also rampant during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when there were calls for the boycott of Chinese-made products.

An AFP report about one such wave of misinformation about barcodes quoted senior director for public relations at GS1 US, Shannon Sullivan saying, “The company prefix does not determine the country in which a product was manufactured — it only indicates the country where the company prefix was obtained.”

Barcodes that begin with “729” refer to GS1 Israel. But the products carrying these barcodes don’t point to where they were manufactured. The country of manufacture is separately and conspicuously mentioned on the product packages or labels.

Published By:
Ashutosh Acharya
Published On:
Dec 14, 2023