With the rise in consumer demand for authenticity and transparency from food producers, so too is there an increase in food fraud. Moving beyond labelling and packaging, Meat & Livestock Australia has partnered with Oritain for a forensic solution. Kim Berry writes. This article was first published in Food & Drink Business March 2021.
The Australian red meat industry is worth around $28billion, with $17 billion in exports. At that scale the risk to international food fraud trade ishigh, a trade that currently costs the global food industry roughly $65 billion.
When you factor in Australia’s reputation for food quality and safety, protecting consumer trust is paramount for the industry.
Oritain uses forensic science and data analysis to create ‘origin fingerprints’ to verify the origin of a product anywhere in the supply chain.
Oritain Australia managing director Sandon Adams says it measures a product’s innate ‘origin footprint’ by unlocking the natural code it absorbs from the environment it was produced in.
“By testing the actual product, itself, and not relying on packaging, bar codes and paper trails, supply chain participants can be sure that what they are purchasing is what they believe it to be.
“Through our work with MLA, we will be able to verify the origin of all beef and lamb produce claiming to be of Australian origin and, therefore, protect the quality consumers look for in Australian produce,” Adams says.
Oritain initiated the project through MLA Donor Company (MDC), a fully owned subsidiary of MLA.
MDC co-invests with companies to accelerate innovation across its value chain, helping it remain globally competitive.
MLA project manager market access science and technology, Ian Jenson, says coming through MDC let Oritain “rigorously” demonstrate its technology.
“In the final stage, blind samples from around Australia, and from numerous other countries were successfully tested. The system is suitable to assure exporters that their product has arrived on the supermarket shelf, or whether substitution is likely,” Jenson says, adding, “This is a significant tool for detecting and preventing substitution.”
The company told Food & Drink Business it thinks of itself as an added level of security and that it can co-exist with existing packaging/label-based track and trace systems.
Working with companies across a broad range of sectors globally, Oritain says that anything grown, reared, or produced can be traced back to its origin.
