Bar codes tell the story

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I was in the grocery store the other day and noticed a woman meticulously examining one brand of a product after another. She would look at one, shake her head, put it back and take another.

When I drew closer, pretending to consider peanut butter brands, I noticed she was not looking at the ingredients, but at the bar codes.

When she found one she liked, I could no longer keep quiet. I asked her what she was doing.

“Checking to see where this stuff is made,” she said. “The barcodes tell you.” She said she wanted to stay away from products of certain countries, while favoring others.

I admitted that this was probably a good idea, but thought the job should be pretty easy since most of what we see in stores these days is made in China.

“Hard goods, yes,” she said, “groceries, not always.” She showed me a list of barcode numbers.

“The first three numbers of a barcode tell you where it comes from,” she said.

Right at the top were the numbers 690, 691 and 692, with “China” written next to them. Things from India start with 890. French numbers are 30 to 37, Germany 40 to 44, and Japan is 45 and 49. Britain’s bar codes start with 50, Denmark with 57, Finland with 64, Switzerland with 76, while 471 tells you it comes from Taiwan.

Saudi Arabian products bear the number 628, and 629 tells you it comes from United Arab Emirates. Central American products run from 740 to 745. Philippine products bear the code 480. Anything made in Hong Kong is coded 489.

Amazed, I checked my jar of peanut butter. The bar code began with 05, one of the numbers for United States products. Those numbers run from 00 to 09.


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