(DC
Velocity)
Counterfeiting has become a very real problem for food and consumer products
supply chains – one that’s costing these industries billions of dollars a year
worldwide. A recent story in our sister publication,CSCMP’s Supply Chain
Quarterly, outlined several strategies for cracking down on counterfeiting. Now
comes word of a surprising new tool for preventing counterfeit packaging from
entering the supply chain: DNA.
Deoxyribonucleic acid, it turns out, could eventually become as common in the
manufacturing plant or the warehouse as it is in crime investigations. DISC
Graphics, a producer of packaging and print for the entertainment
media, beauty, health-care, private label, and consumer products industries,
will offer DNA “taggants” for use in its folding cartons and pressure-sensitive
labels. According to Applied DNA Sciences Inc.,
the developer of the patented taggant, its SigNature DNA is a plant-derived mark that
cannot be copied and can provide a “forensic chain of evidence” to authenticate
products, including packaging and labels.
Maybe some day we’ll see a new addition to the networks’ crime-show lineup: “CSI Supply Chain.”
