SSCC explained

Meat Messaging - Demonstration of using palletising with SSCC pallet label

An SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) is used as a unique 'licence plate' for shipments (AKA loads, consignments) and pallets.

The SSCC is a numbering standard that is often represented as a barcode and is often communicated electrically between systems.

The SSCC is fully compatible with ISO/IEC 15459 – part 1: unique identifiers for transport units. This is often referred to as the ISO licence plate and is a prerequisite for tracking and tracing logistic units in many international supply chains.

The SSCC barcode is composed of 5 elements:

• The Application identifier: Always 00 to identify the number/barcode as an SSCC.
• Extension digit: Issued by the company making the SSCC. For meat related SSCCs the value 8 is often used for pallet identification and the value of 9 is often used for shipment identification.
• GS1 company prefix: The company's GS1 organization prefix.
• Serial number: The serial ID of the shipment unit
• Check digit: Is a calculated one-digit number used to ensure data integrity.

You can read more about the SSCC standard here:

• GS1 website - Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)
• GS1 website - PDF explanation for the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)