What a lot code lookup records

Checking a lot code needs no account, no app and no sign-in. You are not asked who you are, and there is nowhere on the page to tell us.

Each lookup is recorded so the brand can see whether its codes are working — whether customers find their batch, or keep typing codes that do not match. The record holds:

• which product was looked up;
• which batch matched, if one did;
• the text you typed, and a tidied version of it (in capitals, with spaces removed); and
• the date and time.

If you open a certificate of analysis, we record which certificate was opened and when — and nothing linking that to your lookup or to you.

The lookup record has no place for your IP address, your browser or device, your location, the page you came from, or any identifier that could connect one lookup to another — those fields do not exist in it. So two lookups by the same person and two by different people are not recorded as anyone's history in the lookup data.

That is a statement about the lookup record itself. Like any website, the servers and networks that deliver the page handle network information, such as your IP address, for security and to keep the service running; the privacy notice covers that.

To stop automated tools working through every possible lot code, the page limits how many lookups can come from one connection in a short time. For that, it temporarily processes a transformed version of your IP address, kept separately from the lookup record and not intentionally joined to it to build a profile of you. The current retention period for this measure is approximately one minute, after which the value expires.

The verification page sets no cookie. It carries no advertising, no tracking scripts and no third-party analytics, and it uses no third-party web fonts. It is delivered through hosting, storage and delivery providers, as any website is; the privacy notice describes who receives information and why.

The lot code you type becomes part of the page address, so it appears in your browser's history like any other page you visit.

The brand behind the product sees counts — how many lookups there were, and how many found a batch — and the codes that did not match, so it can spot a lot code on its packaging that is hard to read. It sees nothing that identifies who typed them, because the lookup record holds nothing like that.

Because a lookup record has no identifier, we usually cannot tell which record was yours — so we may be unable to find or delete a specific lookup if you ask. That is a consequence of keeping nothing that points back to you, not a refusal of your rights.

Questions about privacy go to privacy@batchroute.com. Questions about a product or a batch go to the brand, whose support address is on every lookup result.

BatchRoute publishes the batch information each brand provides. It is not a testing laboratory, a certification body, or a statement that a product meets any regulation.