In the world of wine retailing, where the origin of a grape can massively impact the value of the finished bottle, the temptation to pass off one provenance of grape in favour of another is overwhelming.

In the September 2023 issue of Authentication & Brand News™, we examined how Parmigiano Reggiano, the iconic Italian cheese, has embraced modern technology by embedding edible microchips into its 40kg cheese wheels to combat counterfeiting.

With the launch of the iPhone 15 series, Apple has introduced new measures to thwart scammers. These features can be quickly verified by buyers and sellers to ensure they have authentic iPhone packaging.

In an open letter, 130 global fashion and sportswear-related organisations, including the Apparel and Footwear Association and the International Apparel Federation, have called for digital labelling to reduce waste and increase consumer access to information.

Nike is conducting a pilot programme with AntChain for a new sneaker featuring an NFC chip. The programme enables consumers to access product origin information by tapping their smartphone against an NFC chip on the sneaker.

A new report by Watchfinder & Co, a luxury pre-owned watch specialist, revealed that 14% of British collectors have counterfeit timepieces in their rotations. Specifically, the research identified a staggering total of 1,010,572 watches.

Exploiting the uniqueness derived from the inherent randomness of industrial processes is not a new approach for anti-counterfeiting technologies, but a new breed of physically unclonable functions (PUFs) might just be a step too far for counterfeiters to spoof.

Scottish leather supplier Muirhead is urging airlines to ensure the traceability of leather during procurement. The advice follows the emergence of leather suppliers whose products – despite being marketed as sustainable, ethical and European – come from a complex and blurred supply chain, with hides imported from as far as South America.

The WCO (World Customs Organisation) has released its 2022 Illicit Trade Report (ITR), showing an increasing trend in illicit trade.

Leibinger, the third generation family-owned German coding and marking systems company, used the interpack trade show in Düsseldorf to launch IQJET, which it describes as the ‘world’s first intelligent coding and marking system for products and packaging’.