AU: Debunking the urban myth about GS1 Barcodes
Photo: Philippa Willitts / Flikr, CC BY-NC 2.0
Food Magazine: Although barcodes have been around on a global scale for over 40 years, there still appears to be some confusion about the humble symbol, what the numbers mean and that familiar beep that is heard approximately six billion times around the world every day.
Maria Palazzolo, Chief Executive Officer at GS1 Australia said, “Thirty-six years ago, Australian retailers adopted the GS1 system of numbering and barcoding as their preferred standard of trade.” “This means that all products that are sold to and by a retailer need to be uniquely identified with a GS1 Barcode that has a unique product identification number called a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). The GTIN is printed below the black and white stripes of a typical barcode.”
GS1 Australia, a not-for-profit organisation, administers and issues authorised GS1 Barcode numbers (GTINs) for Australian businesses. All Australian GTINs begin with 93. GS1 members can manufacture products anywhere in the world and source raw materials on a local or international basis. GS1 prefixes do not identify the country of origin for a given product. They identify the country and the GS1 Member Organisation the GS1 Barcode number was sourced from.