Food producers have a new weapon in the brand protection fight. In recent weeks, two companies have announced the development of new edible tags – for use in foods, medicines and other consumable products – to protect the integrity of brands, supply chains and, ultimately, the provenance of the food and drink we consume.

It comes at a time when the need to protect the authenticity and safety of food and drink is high on the international agenda. In America steps are being taken to enhance food traceability legislation with a new Food Safety Act winging its way speedily through Congress. While in Europe and the UK, fresh initiatives are also underway.

Alan Walp, of the International Authentication Association, looks at the growing need for producers to demonstrate the authenticity of their goods and how technology and policy are playing an important role in this.

The need to determine the authenticity and quality of our food (and any other products we regularly consume) is not new of course. The development of edible tags coincides with the recent discovery of imprinted food seals dating back to 5000 BC in Mesopotamia (New Scientist). A reminder, if ever we needed it, that it’s an age old problem.

But in today’s mass consumer market, the need to authenticate and trace our food and drink requires greater vigilance than ever before. Products are moving so quickly around the world, with supply chains growing ever longer, that the opportunity for fraud has greatly increased since the days when regional produce dominated the market.

As well as a multitude of quality control issues, the problem is compounded by the value of food brands and the demand for specialist food and drinks, which are providing fertile conditions for counterfeiters.

Counterfeiting is big business (a £600 million global industry each year) and the food and drink industry is just one of the many targeted. Recent estimates are that it costs the sector around £31 million every year and, with food prices rising and counterfeiters becoming more nimble at using new technology, the problem is likely to increase. The latest Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report published in 2008 reveals a 250 per cent increase in seizures of counterfeit food and drink between 2003 and 2005.

The problems this creates are wide ranging – and include not just counterfeiting, adulteration and dilution, but also mislabelling and passing off look-alikes as ‘added value’ foods and drinks. Luxury and organic products carry a premium and are ideal targets for counterfeiters. So too do products produced in a particular region such as cheeses, wines and Parma Ham, which have latterly fallen under the European Commission’s Protected Designation of Origin scheme.

Some of the most ‘faked’ products, according to a 2007 report from the OECD, are fruit such as kiwis, conserved vegetables, milk powder, butter, ghee, baby food, instant coffee, alcohol, drinks, confectionary, and hi-breed corn seed. Alcohol products are the prime targets for counterfeiters in the drinks sector, both because of their brand value and the high tax and excise component of the final price. Indeed the EU Liquor Association estimates a quarter of all spirits sold in the EU are now counterfeit (2008).

Besides defrauding producers (lost profits) and consumers, passing off inferior versions also raises the spectre of contamination, spoilage and out-of-date products. The implications of which can be serious to both consumer health and producer reputation and liability. Recent cases of adulterated baby milk in China indicate that the problem is more than just one of neglect.

Indeed food scares involving the recall of spinach, peanuts and sprouts (E.Coli, Salmonella and Listeria respectively) was one of the catalysts for the new Food Safety Enforcement Act of 2009 which is currently being driven through Congress at lightning pace in the US.

But if the old adage is that you are what you eat; do consumers really know what they’re eating in today’s market? To answer this question, food and drink producers are increasingly turning to a wide range of technologies, the latest scientific techniques and working closely with enforcement agencies and authorities to ensure the authenticity of their products and fight against counterfeiters.

Since 2005, all wines travelling outside France have been traceable. Labels and engravings are included on all bottles to determine the authenticity of the product. Similarly, in Southern Italy, milk and mozzarella cheese produced by local cows is checked using the latest spectroscopic techniques to test it matches information stored in a database and comes from the area it claims to.

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) employs DNA methods to identify a wide range of products from fish species and basmati rice to wheat pasta and exotic and common meat species. And in America, where the US food industry is now a one trillion dollar business, new track and trace systems for fruit and other produce are being successfully pioneered to create a direct link between the consumer and grower.

The innovation of edible tags (TruTag, an encoded micro-tag allowing on-the-spot or remote authentication and IntelliMark, a starch-based tag for use in foods and pharmaceuticals) is simply the latest in a long line of developments stretching back many years. They add to the proliferation of devices already used to authenticate and trace products and place another layer of protection at the disposal of the brand owner.

Devices are often multi-layered for extra security relying on a combination of sensory and digital technologies. Sensory technologies rely on one of the five human senses and include holograms, inks and reflective coatings. In the latter camp are track and trace systems, serialisation options as well as barcodes and RFID devices.

But technology alone is not enough. The problem also needs to be addressed at policy level, where technical advances are increasingly being supported by international initiatives. Within Europe, the situation of food authenticity is currently being addressed by TRACE, a five year EU sponsored project intended to provide consumers with added confidence in the authenticity of European food through complete traceability along entire ‘farm to fork’ food chains.

Launched in 2005, TRACE is targeted at sectors and foodstuffs which command a premium on the basis of where they come from. Mineral water, for example, commands a premium price and is a lucrative market, yet there is little to prevent counterfeiters simply bottling tap water and passing it off. Whereas previous efforts have focussed largely on the logistical traceability of foods through the distribution chain, TRACE is exploring the use of new technology to determine the authenticity of products.

Efforts are also being stepped up in the UK as well. Last November, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) set up a new hotline to allow individuals and businesses to report fraudulent activity in food sales and marketing in a much quicker and easier way than previously.

The Food Safety Enforcement Act is one of a number of initiatives underway in America and follows the development of the Produce Traceability Initiative Action Plan in October 08 by a group of influential food merchants and retailers who saw the benefits of self-regulation. They have proposed that by 2010 all cases of produce should bear a label indicating the source of the product in a way which allows them to be tracked through the distribution chain. Six billion cases are currently moved each year with no tracking information, not even a barcode.

The combination of new technology, of which edible tags are another weapon, with concerted policy action like this (involving multiple agencies and governments), will ultimately make a major difference to producers worldwide, helping them to protect the integrity and authenticity of their products far more effectively.

The International Authentication Association is a global organisation set up to lead the fight against counterfeits and represents many of the world’s leading brand owners and suppliers of authentication technologies.