Frequently asked questions

Sannmerk is a public registry of Canadian consumer products. For every product we show its identity (commercial name, brand, GTIN, DIN or NPN), observed prices, and verifiable provenance. The registry is operated by Northken Inc. and is fed by Health Canada (DPD and LNHPD).

Products come from two official Canadian sources: Health Canada's Drug Product Database (DPD) for drugs, and the Natural Health Products Database (LNHPD) for natural products. Each source is licensed (Open Government Licence — Canada). See /sources for the full terms.

GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number. It is the international barcode (8-14 digits) that identifies a commercial product. The last digit is a check digit computed by a standard formula (modulo 10). When you scan a product at the store, the GTIN is the digit string under the barcode.

DIN stands for Drug Identification Number. It is the unique identifier of a drug licensed by Health Canada. A DIN is granted only after a full regulatory review. If your product has a DIN, it is a drug approved in Canada.

NPN stands for Natural Product Number. It is the unique identifier of a Natural Health Product (NHP) licensed by Health Canada in the Natural Health Products Database (LNHPD). A product with an NPN is an NHP approved in Canada.

Go to /verify-claim, paste the GTIN, DIN or NPN, and we will show you the history, observed prices, and the source of the link. If the code is invalid (bad check digit), we tell you so explicitly.

Because prices are not product attributes (like DIN); they are market observations. We collect observed prices via controlled scraping and partner retailers. A product with no observed price simply means we have not yet captured an observation. See /methodology for the full story.

Go to /contact?intent=correction, give us the GTIN, DIN or NPN, and what looks wrong. We verify every report within 5 business days and fix the upstream source if needed.

Yes, under the ODbL (share-alike) licence for aggregated data. Upstream sources (DPD, LNHPD) are under the Open Government Licence — Canada. See /sources for the full terms.

Yes, the API is documented at /api (in progress) and reachable at /v1/sannmerk/* on sannmerk.com. For a commercial SLA + support, contact us at /contact?intent=api.