Forensic Continuity to Traceability Systems

Oritain Provides Forensic Continuity to Traceability Systems

1-July, 2009

Traceability systems track animals from point-to-point as they move through the supply chain. This is done by applying barcodes, RFID tags and other monitoring devices to the animals or their containers. As producers continue to invest in increasingly elaborate traceability systems to make them more resistant to fraud, counterfeiters are growing more savvy.

“The fundamental problem inherent all traceability systems is that the chain of evidence relies on the integrity of weakest link”, said Dr Jurian Hoogewerff, a world expert in forensic provenancing. “The brute force solution is to create tracking devices that are more difficult to counterfeit. This adds more cost to the system each year and only provides a temporary solution. Oritain offers a more reasonable approach. Producers who have their product “Oritained” can rely on natural properties of the animal and its environment that are virtually impossible to mimic. Regardless of where an Oritained product is in the supply chain or how it got there, it can quickly be compared to the profile of its origin to determine if it has been tampered with.”

Oritain is working closely with several innovative beef, sheep and venison producers in New Zealand and is exploring how Oritain's technology and GS1's global supply chain standards could complement each other for a comprehensive and cost-effective solution. Oritain maps the natural environment that is reflected in the meat of the animal, for example, and provides an independent audit of the traceability system. Costs are contained because the farm doesn’t need to be mapped each year. Per animal costs are minimised because the data applies to every animal year over year.

“Counterfeit control is a significant issue in ironing out the problems of end-to-end traceability systems.” said Peter Stevens, CEO of GS1 New Zealand. “GS1 represents the interests of 1.5m members worldwide, and 4500 members in New Zealand. Naturally, we are very interested in Oritain’s approach as it provides a cost-effective insurance of integrity that’s missing. We hope to work closely with Oritain as they bring this service to market.”

About Oritain
We are the leading provider of independent scientific verification of origin services and work across a wide set of vertical markets including meat, wine, produce and honey. Oritain Global is based in New Zealand with operating companies in Australia and the US. Our trademark is protected, and like our name means “certainty of origin.”

About GS1 New Zealand

GS1 New Zealand is an affiliate of the 108-country GS1 organisation that designs and implements global standards for bar coding, RFID (radio frequency identification) and other technologies in the supply chain. GS1 New Zealand is a neutral, not-for-profit body owned and controlled by its approx. 4500 New Zealand members. GS1 standards are used to identify, and to track and trace, objects in diverse sectors of the New Zealand economy, including Grocery and Retailing, Manufacturing and Wholesaling, Transport, Defence and Healthcare.

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