QR codes on packaging: what to print and what to link

The short version

• Print what a customer needs to decide on the pack itself: ingredients, allergens, how to use it.
• Use the code for extras, such as recipes, refills or instructions in more languages.
• Say on the pack what the code opens, and make that page worth the scan.

Most people skipped codes on food labels

In 2023, Alexia Gaudeul and Michał Krawczyk of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) ran an online test. It involved 3,420 people in Spain, Germany and Bulgaria. They chose between food products. Some labels showed the information directly, while others put it behind a QR code that participants had to open.

On average, the codes were opened 24% of the time. 37% of participants never opened one, and only 4% opened all of them. Products with information behind a code were chosen about as often as the others. But choices took longer, and people knew less about the products they picked.

The whole test ran on a screen, and opening a code meant a click, not a phone scan. The authors conclude that putting food information behind a QR code instead of on the label has a negative impact on consumers.

A 2026 study in Health Promotion International, led by Laura Bathie, looked at 483 breakfast cereals sold in Australia. 16% carried a QR code, mostly on the back of the pack. 80% of the pages behind those codes had recipes, and none gave nutrition information apart from claims.

That study counted codes and pages, not scans. Our reading: in an online test people often skipped codes on food labels, and most pages behind codes on Australian cereal boxes had recipes.

A 2019 University of Delaware field test by Tongzhe Li and Kent Messer sold oysters with QR code labels. Only 1.2% of participants scanned the codes with their own phones. Many more scanned when handed a phone with a scanner.

Other views

In a May 2025 GS1 US survey of 1,007 US adults, 66% said they would scan a QR code on food packaging. GS1 US sets barcode standards and is encouraging shops to accept QR codes on packs, so it has an interest in this result.

The survey recorded what people said they would do. The studies above recorded what people did. As far as we found, the case for more scanning rests on stated intentions.

As of October 2026, we found no study that looked at codes for refills, manuals or warranties.

What to put on the pack, and what behind the code

Anyone can read the label without a phone. In the JRC test, codes went unopened about three times in four, so information only behind the code was usually missed. And because packs stay around for months, the page behind the code has to keep working.

• Print what people need to decide. Ingredients, allergens, how to use it and any warnings belong on the pack. Check the labelling rules where you sell before you move anything off it.
• Give the code one clear job. Reorder, a refill, a recipe, a how-to video or instructions in more languages. Pick one.
• Say what it opens. Put a short line next to the code, such as "Scan for recipes" or "Scan to reorder".
• Make the page work on a phone. It should load fast and show what the line promised, not your home page.
• Choose a code you can change later. A dynamic code lets you change where it goes after printing. Use one from a service that will not switch it off.
• Print it so it scans. At least 2 cm wide, dark on light, with a clear margin, on a flat matt part of the pack away from folds and seams. Scan a proof with two phones before the full run.

How QR Lasts helps

A dynamic code made here lets you change where it goes after the packs are printed. A free account includes 10 dynamic codes, each with a scan count, so you can see whether people open them. Pro adds unlimited dynamic codes and your own web address for them, such as go.yourbrand.com.

Every code made here keeps redirecting, sending each scan on to your page, whether or not you pay. No code is switched off for non-payment. The only reason we stop one is abuse, such as a page Google Web Risk flags as phishing or malware. If the site ever closes, you get 12 months' notice and an export.

Sources

• Gaudeul, A. and Krawczyk, M., Using QR codes to access food information: a behavioural study with European consumers, European Commission Joint Research Centre, JRC134602, EUR 31735 EN, 2023.
• Bathie, L., Chen, M. C. L., Leahy, A., Sträuli, B., Pettigrew, S. and Barrett, E. M., Quick response codes in the breakfast cereal aisle: prevalence, landing page, and product characteristics, Health Promotion International 41(2), daag044, 2026. DOI 10.1093/heapro/daag044.
• GS1 US, New GS1 US Survey Finds Consumers Are Reviewing Food Labels More Closely as Grocery Prices Rise, press release, 23 June 2025.
• Li, T. and Messer, K. D., To Scan or Not to Scan: The Question of Consumer Behavior and QR Codes on Food Packages, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 44(2), 311 to 327, 2019.

If we have misread a study, tell us and we will correct it.