From our retirees association...

After all the news with COVID-19 and its origin and the problems the USA has had with the supply lines for prescription drugs, masks and other necessary health products coming out of China, how do you know if what you are buying is coming from there.

Where It’s Made;

Very simple: Pick up a product. Look at the barcode.

If the first 3 numbers are 690 or 691 or 692, the product was made in China. Put it down and buy from any other country.

If the numbers are 00 thru 09 to start, it's USA made. Buy American.

The FDA hasn't done us any favors either, as a couple of years ago they allowed products to be partially made or produced in the USA, sent to China for processing, sent back here for packaging, displaying a label that says assembled in USA. Our major pork producer here in the states, sold out to China about a year ago, They ship the pork to China, it is then turned into the various pork products, then they ship it back to plants for packaging and it shows as a USA product. Many other food products are done in a similar fashion. This is a result of our national companies finding a way to cut manufacturing costs using cheaper labor and potentially substandard processes for feeding and processing food products bound for the US. The label will often say: Produced for and distributed by XXXXXXX company in the USA. Next time you go to your favorite big box store, start looking at the barcodes.

Just to clarify, the 1st numbers identify the origin of the company that has assigned the barcode for a certain product. That has nothing to do with where a product is made. 690, 691, 692 (edit to add 693, 694 & 695) identifies that that barcode belongs to a company that is based in China.