When we think of counterfeit, we often think of money or high-end products. Rarely do we consider food an item of concern for counterfeiting, yet “the FDA estimates that food fraud, which commonly includes incorrect expiration dates or the incorrect listing of ingredients, is costing the industry as much as $40 billion a year.” Loftware shares how coding and marking prevent counterfeiting for the food industry and can be improved through its Cloud solutions.

Coding and marking, the process of using unique codes to track items throughout the supply chain, can be in the form of a number, symbol, or character, and include information like the product’s batch number, expiration date, or manufacturing date. Improving coding and marking through authentication and tracking can help reduce and eliminate the potential for grifting and counterfeiting.

Beyond the high cost of counterfeiting in the food and beverage business, more important, is the concern for consumer safety, which is a priority for all. Businesses must also deal with the fact that it can cause irreversible damage to a company’s reputation. The ability to authenticate and track products from the point of manufacture to purchase through the supply chain is invaluable and doing so inefficiently becomes the gold standard.

The Pragmatyxs project team currently assists some of the most notable food and beverage organizations globally to ensure they avoid the threat of counterfeit products and stay ahead of the demands of regulation.  Standardizing and centralizing labeling and inventory processes in the cloud alleviates tracking issues and allows for transparency and traceability when issues occur.