GS1 Digital Link for Fresh Produce: A Compendium of GS1 Guidance

What it is

A compendium of GS1's published standards and guidance on GS1 Digital Link for fresh produce. It explains the 2D carriers GS1 lists for retail point of sale, how one code can serve both the register and a phone, what the GS1-Conformant Resolver Standard covers, and what IFPA's PLU sticker guidance asks of labels. It closes with what the Digital Link Foundations pilot tested in a retail lab, case studies GS1 has published, a checklist by role, and the questions the industry is still working through.

Who it is for

Brand owners and packers, retail store systems and point-of-sale teams, and labeling and print providers. No technical background is assumed; each section starts in plain language and then points to the GS1 document that defines the rule.

Brand owners and packers

Decide which carrier fits your label, which data to include beyond the GTIN, and whether a link needs to resolve. Start with sections 2, 3 and 6, then the checklist.

Retail store systems and POS

See how GS1's readiness criteria describe reading the carriers and converting a Digital Link URI to element strings, and which output mode to set. Start with sections 2 and 4.

Labeling and print providers

Symbol size, clear margin and print quality come from GS1 and IFPA. Start with sections 2, 6 and 7, and note the open question on QR Code clear margin.

What is inside

• Why 2D at point of sale and what Sunrise 2027 means
• The POS carriers compared (Table 1), with a worked encoding example for each
• Element strings and Digital Link URIs: one code, two readers
• How scanners convert a Digital Link URI, and why the register keeps the data and not the URL
• What the GS1-Conformant Resolver Standard covers
• Fresh produce specifics: PLU stickers, batch and dates, symbol size and clear margin (Table 2)
• What the Digital Link Foundations pilot tested (Table 3)
• Case studies GS1 has published
• GS1 publications by role, with links (Table 4), and a checklist by role
• Open questions the industry is raising

Key takeaways

• GS1 owns the standards. This compendium makes GS1's own publications easier to find and use for fresh produce.
• One code, two readers: the register reads the data, and a phone can open the link.
• Per GS1's solution provider readiness criteria (Solution provider 2D readiness, Version 1.0.0, April 2025), converting a Digital Link to element strings at the register is expected behavior.
• For loose produce on PLU stickers, IFPA's guidance names the GTIN as the only data required for Sunrise 2027.
• The Digital Link Foundations pilot tested two code designs: a baseline built strictly to the GS1 specification, and a variant one producer designed for harsher field conditions and its own operations. The pilot team reports that the baseline codes scanned and rang up as the right item in the retail lab.

Questions

Is this a standard?

No. GS1 owns the standards. This is a guide to GS1 and IFPA publications, and where it differs from them, the GS1 publication governs.

Do I have to use a QR Code with a link?

GS1 lists three 2D carriers for retail point of sale. IFPA's PLU guidance advises a GS1 DataMatrix when you are not linking to a web page. The choice is yours, and this guide presents the guidance without favoring one.

What does the register actually receive?

GS1's readiness criteria describe scanners converting a Digital Link URI to element strings and passing the GTIN and any other data in element string syntax.

What is the only data I must encode on a PLU sticker for Sunrise 2027?

The GTIN, according to IFPA's guidance, with the human-readable PLU number kept on the label. Batch, pack date and serial number are optional for later use.

Do I still need the linear barcode?

The point-of-sale guideline says a linear barcode must accompany a 2D barcode until at least 90 percent of POS scanning solutions can use GS1-compliant 2D barcodes and capture the GTIN.