Handling UPC codes
My company is based in WA state, our parent company is in Japan.
If the parent company imports the same finished product as we produce, and both WA and Japan plant use the same UPC #. Everything on the label, (pack size,etc) will be the same, except the COLA.
Hey Miss Frankie,
Is your question whether or not your statement is accurate or are you looking for guidance on whether or not more information should be added? Please clarify a bit more for me.
Cheers!
Hey Miss Frankie,
Is your question whether or not your statement is accurate or are you looking for guidance on whether or not more information should be added? Please clarify a bit more for me.
Cheers!
Sorry about that! Forgot to proofread.
My company is based in WA state, our parent company is in Japan.
If the parent company imports the same finished product as we produce, can both WA and Japan plant use the same UPC #?
Everything on the label, (pack size, etc.) will be the same, except the COLA.
Gotcha now Miss Frankie,
Yes the barcode can stay the same. You are basically just creating the same product from two manufacturing plants. Make sure that your label has traceability so that you know if there is an issue at either plant. I have never seen anything that would be an issue on this. Just make sure that you get good guidance from FSIS when it comes to your COLA. If I ever run into a funny questions I send the question to ASKFSIS and then print the email out and attach it to my program documents. Anything that ASKFSIS sends out to you as a response it official government guidance and should be used in the event there is ever an inspection or question raised on why you did something. Hope it helps.
Cheers!
Thank you.
I'm not sure what FSIS is, but I will definitely look into it!
Part 2 of this question.
If the recipe changes slightly, does the UPC code need to change? (removing 1 ingredient)
In what context? - is it related to a standard, fx. GS1?
This is normally standardized nationally and could also be decided by customers.
Miss Frankie,
If you have different ingredients isn't it a different product? Are you marketing it as the same exact product even though the ingredient is missing?
Miss Frankie,
If you have different ingredients isn't it a different product? Are you marketing it as the same exact product even though the ingredient is missing?
Same product. We make Alaska Snow Legs with surimi. We currently use crab flavoring and real crab. Some of our customers won't buy our product if the crab isn't processed by MSC certified vendors. MOST are, but not all of them. And, with crab being in short supply, they are wanting to stop adding the real crab, still using the crab flavoring.
Sounds like you have two different products. Be careful not have the labels conflict where you are using Crab vs Krab and inspected plants vs not-inspected plants. Your price-point would be pretty different from real to fake crab as well, right? You have an interesting process. I would probably have separate bar codes because the products are pretty distinct from one another. Are there different controls in place for maintaining quality and safety of one product over another?
Cheers!
The product really doesn't change. The amount of real crab is very slight, basically, barely enough to even say it's in there.
As far as I know, the price will not change. Our president just asked me if the bar code would need to change, and I'm still learning our whole process.
I spend my first month here rewriting our HACCP plan (we previously use a consulting company and only had HACCP on pdf, I put it on excel so we can make changes as needed, rather than having to go through the consulting company). After that, I began updating the SQF books to 9.0.