Barcodes

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Barcode length

The majority of product codes are following EAN-13 standard, and, as such, are 13 chars length.

As of 2022-04-06, Open Food Facts contains more than 12,000 products (~0.5%) with a barcode longer than 13 chars.

• The majority of barcodes with 20 numbers are products prepared, packaged and sold by Bonarea (cheese, meat, fruits, etc.); eg. https://world.openfoodfacts.org/cgi/search.pl?search_terms=Queso+de+mezcla+semicirado&search_simple=1&action=process&json=1; these barcodes are true barcodes and not a data issue, as can be seen on this picture.
  • They are beginning with 00.
  • Price seems to be included in the barcode: in 00162403200322003538, the price, €3.53, is included just before the last digit.
  • ~7500+ products
• 20+ are beginning with 0105400141
• In poor light conditions, barcode scanners may sometimes misread barcode numbers & record it wrongly. After scanning, verify if barcode on package & what's scanned are matching.
• [to be completed]

Open Food Facts website can't display a product with a barcode longer than 24 chars (a bug is open).

Barcode weight

For EAN-13 barcodes, GS1 recommend barcodes' weight to be ~32mm. In general, producers tend to use barcodes between 24 and 35 mm. Values below 24mm and above 35 are rare.

Testing barcodes with our apps

It's interesting to control that our apps are playing well with different barcodes' size. We build a test document that you can print and use with the app.

All things barcode

• Non Standard Barcodes
• Brands to add based on barcode
• Global brands and companies taxonomy: Barcode prefixes for brands are already included
• Global countries taxonomy : Barcode prefixes for countries will be included
• Barcodes/Countries: Map from barcode initials to country or purpose
• Verification/Noteworthy Products#Products with same bar code: List of instances where two or more products have been identified as having the same barcode.

Barcode related pages on Open Food Facts

• http://world.openfoodfacts.org/code/invalid-ean
• http://world.openfoodfacts.org/codes
• http://world.openfoodfacts.org/code/9300462xxxxxx

News

• Wikidata is adding support for GS1 country prefixes

Roadmap

• Features and bugs to work on
• Adding APIs for mobile scanning apps
  • Get country suggestions
  • Get Manufacturer Code suggestions
  • Get Product Code suggestions
  • Get barcode API
  • Generate barcode SVG

See also

• Barcode Wikipedia page.