False Claims About Israel Changing Barcode Prefix To Avoid Boycott Viral

Social media is rife with posts claiming that Israel has changed its barcode number from 729 to 871, and urging people to boycott Israeli products by avoiding purchasing products with this barcode number.

BOOM found these posts to be misleading; we found that the prefix 729 continues to be issued by GS1 Israel, while 871 is one of the prefixes issued by GS1 Netherlands. Furthermore, according to the GS1, the not-for-profit company in-charge of allotting company prefixes for barcodes, the prefix in itself does not reveal where the product was manufactured.

"Israel has changed its barcode from *729* to *871* Barcode changed as the public was boycotting Israeli products," read one of the captions on Facebook.

Such posts have also been doing rounds on X (formerly Twitter), which can be viewed here and here.

Fact Check

BOOM performed a few keyword searches on Google to look for how barcode prefixes are assigned, which led us to website of GS1 - the not-for-profit company in charge of issuing such prefixes.

GS1 describes this prefix as "a unique number that will identify your company as the owner of your barcode and the product it’s on."

According to its list of company prefixes, the prefix issued by GS1 Israel is 729, whereas the number 871 is one of the prefixes issued by GS1 Netherlands. We found no evidence of the barcode prefix being changed for either of these countries.

However, GS1 also notes that, "GS1 user companies can manufacture products anywhere in the world, GS1 Prefixes do not identify the country of origin for a given product."

Furthermore, we also referred to the FAQ section of GS1's website, which further reiterated that the prefix does not reveal the country of origin of the product.

"An EAN-13 barcode number always starts with the GS1 Prefix of the GS1 Member Organisation that allocated the barcode number. The GS1 Prefix does not indicate that the product was manufactured in a specific country or by a specific manufacturer; it may have been produced anywhere in the world," it read.