The Global Language of Business
  1. Home
  2. GS1 and Public Policy
  3. Priorities
  4. Consumer Safety

Consumer Safety

At GS1 we work with authorities and companies around the world to help address product and food safety.

Our standards enable tracking products across supply chains and tracing custody, making it easier to:

  • Structure product identification
  • Verify authenticity
  • Comply with product and food safety regulations
  • Run efficient, targeted recalls

The increased number of safety regulatory requirements with regard to end-to-end supply chain visibility, means additional efforts are needed from both companies and governments.

GS1 standards help consumer safety stakeholders implement systems that can lead to increased product safety.

Food safety

The food industry is facing increased demands from consumers and authorities for more comprehensive data on food safety, food quality, provenance and harvesting processes. Traceability can provide a solution by adding an element of transparency and trust to food supply chains.

GS1 standards help to trace fresh foods from farm-to-fork. Information can be easily shared throughout the supply chain and data can be retrieved to satisfy safety regulations.

Sharing accurate product information via consumer-facing mobile devices and websites builds trust and helps today's consumers make informed decisions.

Unique identification of products and the standardised exchange of data enable:

  • Companies to be prepared for efficient and targeted recalls
  • Market surveillance authorities to verify compliance

We partner with businesses, trade associations, industry groups, governments, regulatory agencies and NGOs to drive consumer confidence in food safety.

Read more here about how our standards make a difference when it comes to food safety.

Any questions?

We can help you work with GS1

OECD Global Recalls Portal and GS1 solutions

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

The OECD has created a Global Recalls Portal to bring together information on product recalls being issued around the world, on a regular basis.

The portal includes information on mandatory and voluntary consumer product recalls—all of which were issued by a governmental body and were made publicly available.

The portal uses a GTIN, a GS1 product identification code, to uniquely identify a specific product, as well as GS1’s classification code (GPC) to leverage semantic technologies for smart searches. The use of a GS1 GPC allows for the automation of recall reports by categorisation.