We have recently experienced a serious food contamination incident that caused panic in markets across Europe. Such crisis situations make us aware of the need to implement effective identification and tracking of food products throughout the entire supply chain, right up to the point of sale.
GS1 DataBar is a new generation of barcode, scanned at the point of sale (checkout), the use of which allows retailers to block sales and withdraw defective products. GS1 DataBar is already being used on fresh produce in grocery stores in North America. These codes are also being tested in some European countries. Suppliers and producers of meat, cheese, and fish, as well as representatives of the bakery industry, are already learning about the benefits of using GS1 DataBar. They label individual products or bulk packaging that pass through store checkouts. Thanks to these codes, they can take advantage of the ability to encode more accurate, expanded information about goods, such as expiration dates, in a single symbol.
For over 30 years, the GS1 organization has been promoting the use of barcodes that enable efficient and accurate identification and communication at every stage of the supply chain. The GS1 DataBar code, as another tool of the GS1 system, can also serve to secure fresh products. It also supports inventory rotation systems through the proper identification of discounted products with short shelf lives. A small sticker with a GS1 DataBar code can, above all, save health or lives when, thanks to it, a message appears at the checkout that the item we have chosen is defective and cannot be sold to us.
More information – http://www.gs1pl.org/gs1-databar