How to use these facts

Updated 10 September 2026. Boycott Scan helps you investigate packaged products. You decide what to buy.

Product and ownership sources

Product records come from the community-maintained Open Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts, Open Pet Food Facts and Open Products Facts catalogues. They provide broad coverage, not a guarantee that every retail barcode is listed. Ownership mappings cite company brand portfolios and may not cover local licensees, joint ventures, recent sales, or every subsidiary. A parent company is not always controlled by one individual. Public companies can have many shareholders. Each ownership mapping has a checked date and a review deadline. After that deadline, the site stops presenting the mapping as current until it is reviewed again.

Origin is more than one country

A corporate headquarters, manufacturing location, ingredient origin, and country of sale can all differ. A barcode prefix does not establish where a product was made. We display unknown information as missing.

War and conflict evidence

Conflict records match a reviewed corporate owner, not a country, ethnicity, religion or barcode prefix. We distinguish direct military support, indirect economic links and attributed boycott allegations. Each published record names the conflict, source, publication date, review date, company position when available, and limits of the claim. A boycott campaign or continued commercial activity is not by itself proof of endorsing war. Humanitarian aid is not military support.

Every corporate owner in the current eight-owner brand catalogue has an explicit assessment. The first review is narrowly limited to the BDS Movement corporate priority guide and the additional linked reporting or company sources shown in a result. A reviewed result with no relevant evidence is not a clearance or proof of neutrality. Dated reports are not a live sanctions feed and can become outdated, so each assessment displays its review date and next review due date. Parent-company activity does not prove where money from a particular purchase goes. Read the linked sources and any newer company response before deciding.

Conflict assessments and individual records must be explicitly approved for publication. Draft, withheld, expired, malformed, and unsupported records are hidden from conclusions and report counts. On expiry, the site shows only that the review expired and the sources that were checked. Every visible source shows its publisher, title, publication date when stated, and the date Boycott Scan checked it. This protects future additions from appearing as verified simply because data was entered into the catalogue.

Processing and ingredients

NOVA and food ingredient flags are shown only for Open Food Facts records. NOVA describes processing, not a laboratory safety test. An additive being present does not by itself show that it is harmful. Risk depends on the substance, amount, exposure, and individual circumstances. Photos cannot establish contamination, pesticide residues, or undeclared chemicals. Check the physical package for allergens and consult qualified advice for medical concerns.

Check photo matches

The current catalogue search covers food, beauty, pet care, household and other general retail goods when an open record exists. English and Thai label reading runs on your device; unclear text is rejected. Even high-confidence text is only a search suggestion, not proof of product identity. Text recognition can misread a label. Confirm the exact product, size, market, and ingredients before relying on a match. Recipes and ownership can change.

Corrections and attribution

Each result links to its product record and company source. To correct a product record, use the edit or contribution options on the linked Open Facts page. For an ownership discrepancy, follow the company's cited source and use its contact channel for confirmation. Unverified ownership is not a boycott recommendation.

Open Food Facts database content is available under the Open Database License; individual contents and images have their stated licenses. Boycott Scan is independent of the companies and data providers shown.