Retailers are moving towards 2D barcodes, and UK supermarkets have already started. This article explains what GS1 Sunrise 2027 means for food manufacturers and how to check your packaging line is ready.
At a glance
GS1 is a global organisation that develops standards for identifying products, locations and supply chain activity. For food manufacturers, its standards underpin product barcodes, batch identification and traceability.
Standardised identification helps businesses record and share product data from manufacturing and packing through to distribution and retail. It supports more than checkout scanning, including inventory management, quality control and product recalls. [1]
From 1D barcodes to 2D codes
GS1 has standards for five 2D barcodes. The two most widely recognised are:
GS1 Sunrise 2027 is a global industry goal. By the end of 2027, retail point-of-sale (POS) systems should be able to read and process a defined set of GS1 2D barcodes, in addition to existing linear barcodes. [3]
Three points are easy to get wrong:
What's happening in the UK now
In April 2026, Tesco began replacing traditional barcodes with QR codes on its own-label sausage range, describing it as a UK first. The codes give shoppers product information and let the retailer identify specific batches in a recall, rather than pulling whole product categories from sale. GS1 UK's chief executive, Anne Godfrey, called it a "significant step forward for UK retail". [4]
This follows an earlier Tesco pilot with GS1 UK and ten supplier partners. It covered 12 own-brand meat and produce lines and focused on capturing use-by dates and batch numbers. [5]
For food manufacturers, the message is clear: 2D codes are already appearing on UK shelves.
What this means for packaging and inspection
Moving to 2D codes involves more than choosing a new format. You need to consider how codes are generated, printed, positioned, captured and verified.
What can affect readability:
Why verification matters: a QR code can look perfect and still be wrong. The data may be structured incorrectly, or the print quality may fall below what a retailer requires. For example, one supplier guide reports that Tesco's guidance for fresh products sets a minimum print grade of B. [6] Confirm the exact requirement with each retail customer.
A practical check: during the transition, packs will often carry both a 1D and a 2D code. Inspection should confirm that both codes read and that the product number in each match. [7]
Automated vision and inspection systems can check these things in-line, at production speed. The right setup depends on your code type, packaging format, environment and verification criteria.
SPUK supplies Antares Vision Group's label inspection solution, which checks codes and labels on every pack as it moves down the line. It reads and now also grades printed codes, so poor print quality can be caught on the line rather than at the retailer-level.
Why code grading matters now
GS1 UK says that an unverified QR code on pack is a liability, and that a code scanning on a phone does not guarantee it will scan at the till. They also say the industry needs inline verification that matches the accuracy of ISO-graded offline checks, because current inline solutions are not ISO-graded. [8]
Antares Vision Group's label inspection solution grades the print quality of every code inline, against the standards that GS1's verification templates are based on. [9] If a code falls short, the rejection system automatically removes the pack.
Reads and grades GS1 codes
The system inspects all GS1 barcodes and has always been able to read them. Barcode grading is the latest addition, so it can now assess print quality as well as readability.
It supports all the code types covered in this article:
Suits a range of packaging and line speeds
More than code checking
The same machine also carries out the standard inspections:
Why a complete machine rather than bolt-on cameras
Compared with bolt-on cameras, this is a complete machine with its own rejection system, which is fully retail compliant. It is also compact, taking roughly 1.22 m of line length.
It can also be added that Antares Vision Group's All In One Solution, combines it with other technologies such as lead detection, X-ray, and more in an even smaller footprint.
2D codes are moving from pilot to practice, and the manufacturers supplying retailers will feel the change first. Two questions are worth asking now:
If you're not sure of either answer yet, now is the time to check your packaging line, so you can supply your retailers with confidence.
2D codes are moving from pilot to practice, and for food manufacturers supplying retailers, print quality now matters as much as the data in the code. With Antares Vision Group's label inspection solution, Sealpac UK helps manufacturers read and grade every code on the line, so they can supply their retailers with confidence as GS1 Sunrise 2027 approaches.
Contact Us Today: Want to find out how our inspection solutions can get your packaging line ready for 2D codes? Get in touch with Sealpac UK for expert advice and solutions.
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Join Sealpac UK and Antares Vision Group to make sure every code leaving your line prints, reads and grades correctly.