Know Your Source
I received this and have checked just generally around the house and it seems accurate. Especially in the area of food additives but in other areas as well, I found it interesting and thought other Loafers might also.
Eric
Some are afraid of China-made goods. Being unsure of quality in the manufacturing process or content in food items.
Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ?
If the first 3 digits of the bar code are 690, 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan .
This is our right to know, but the government doesn't make it easy to know this information.
Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that many consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA ", so they don't show from which country it is made or the label is not visible.
However, you may now refer to the bar code, remember if the first 3 digits are:
690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA .
00 - 09 ... USA & CANADA
30 - 37 ... FRANCE
40 - 44 ... GERMANY
47 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50 ... UK
Thanks, Eric!
David
how interesting!
Thanks, Eric. Good info here. I printed it out and cut out a little square with the codes for my wallet.
--Pamela
"I received this and have checked just generally around the house and it seems accurate."
Based on what? That you know (or assume you know) the country of origin of whatever random objects you find around the house? That's a damm poor way of doing research.
Thirty seconds on Google would have found http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/barcodes.asp (as well as many others) and shown your assumption to be false.
99% of the crap people forward via email is utter bovine exhaust. Do your research.
This is our right to know, but the government doesn't make it easy to know this information. Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that many consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA ", so they don't show from which country it is made or the label is not visible.
The goverment, regardless of the wishes of 'Chinese businessmen', requires the country of origin (if non-US) to be plainly displayed. If you don't find 'made in China' or 'assembled in the USA' or similiar statements on the product - there's a reason for that.
DerekL, because I need to be torched, too. I made an erroneous statement, based partly on memory and partly on assumption, in a recent post. What I remembered was that Russian immigrants brought with them the seeds of the Turkey Red wheat (so far, so good) and then assumed that their ethnicity was Slavic (not so good). Although they came from Russia, the immigrants were actually German in ethnicity and Mennonite in their religious beliefs.
So, here I stand, without a stitch of asbestos to protect me. Flame on!
Paul
While a Snopes check is always a good thing to do, I don't understand the vituperative nature of your response, Derek. Bad day?
I thought it was interesting enough to share with my friends. But, it turns out it's not based entirely in fact. I'm not an anal person in doing research on every little thing and this one slipped right past me. I'm so glad there is one smart alec (not really the word I am thinking) who took it on himself to flame me. That was good Derek, I haven't ever been flamed here in over 2 years. In fact it has been a long time since anyone has flamed another member here. I wonder why that is?
Eric
...doesn't always cut it either. There was a law passed in Canada recently which declares that 'made in Canada' must mean that the ingredients, and not just the packaging, are Canadian. Simply 'made in....' could be referring to the box.
Raw materials from China (Taiwan is also China folks!) were processed and packaged claiming it to be "original." The package has a bar code but no numbers on it.
Another subject: Have a freebie box of something. Looks like it could be clothes soap but smells like strawberries, like strawberry drink mix. Upon opening, it turns out to be clothes soap but doesn't smell like the outside of the box... interesting consumer trick.
Mini
<edited>never mind
My mom told me never ever to lump Taiwan and China together. They may come from the same ethnic stock, but culturally and politically, they are separate countries. Biggest difference: Taiwan is a democratic country.
Eric,
This is very helpful to me.
Chinese gov't has absolute control over most companies and the people working for them are often ordered to use the internet to post phoney posts which support the company and china. (So you can't trust many internet posts which protect chinese products or company's.)
My personal position is don't buy anything chinese unless necessary. By helping me know what is from china, your post has been very helpful.
Meryl
Nice to know the anti-chinese sentiment is still alive and strong.
FP
Thanks Eric for the information.
Neither do I like products from China. It is nice to be aware on how to spot products not labeled, even if it was not approved by Mr Manners ; )
When I was in between high school and college I worked for Russell Athletics that , at the time, made most of the athletic wear in the US. If you needed a Russell tag, you put in that, if you had a Nike order, you just changed tags and kept right on going. Same shirts, same fabric, same everything. It made me look at clothing in a store a whole new way.
Audra
As I read through the entirety of the posts on this subject, it appears that some folks read the initial entry and simply responded in turn; without reading all the information. Comments like "Thanks Eric", an indication of acceptance of the validity of the information, appears below some of the comments that expose the probability that the information may not be valid. Oh, how we rush through our days.
all the posts. Honestly, this identifying goods from China doesn't really concern me that much. To some, this maybe an important issue but to me, it's just someone trying to share information with good intentions. I thanked Eric for that. I enjoy the sharing spirit of this forum and try not to take minor things too seriously.
Amen. I'm glad he did the post and thanks for the correction. MOST people on here add corrections nicely though.
I thought that was going to be awesome info to share with my sister. I even checked my KA flour bag, just to also check the numbers.....then I read the rest of the post.
Well Eric, thanks for wanting to pass what seemed to be good info on.
Just think of the e-coli outbreaks with the spinach in the past too. It's not just China you have to worry about, heck we had our own bad peanut company here in the states.