Protecting premium Food & Beverage brand integrity
Counterfeiting in the luxury food and drinks industry has long been a multimillion pound industry . The pandemic added to these pressures , with high demand for premium products coupled with interrupted supply chains and fewer physical audits amplifying the risks of opportunists and illicit bootleggers taking advantage of the disruptions .
Packaging specialist at Sumitomo ( SHI ) Demag UK Ashlee Gough examines how specialist closure and thin wall moulders are applying the latest injection moulding precision and In Mould Labelling ( IML ) techniques to step up their fight against the creative food and drink fakers to mitigate risks and safeguard brand integrity .
In a recent survey of senior food and drink execs by assurance specialists The Lloyd ’ s Register , only a third admitted to vetting suppliers against a recognised GFSI standard . One in five declared that no checks were made as part of sourcing decisionsi . Yet , despite these prevalent
Ashlee Gough , Packaging Specialist , Sumitomo ( SHI ) Demag UK
risks - 97 percent stated that they ’ d been affected by food fraud in the last 12 months - few in the industry regard authenticating products as their highest priority .
Against this backdrop , the UK food and drink market remains one of the worst affected by counterfeiting . Deliberately packaged to deceive consumers , the Food Standard Agency ’ s National Food Crime Unit estimates that the combination of adulteration , substitution , theft , misrepresentation , illegal processing , waste diversion and document fraud costs £ 11.97bn per annumii .
Seizures of counterfeit products provide a good indication of the scale of the problem . In 2020 , Operation OPSON IX seized 12 000 tonnes of illegal and potentially harmful products , including 1.2m litres of alcohol .
In a converted effort to crackdown on groups profiting from illicit versions of branded spirits and premium foods , manufacturers are making labels more difficult to copy and bottles harder to refill . “ One way to counteract counterfeiting and product tampering is through the innovative design of packaging that cannot be easily copied ,” highlights Ashlee .
“ Until recently , this may have involved putting shrink or foil sleeve around a luxury drink brand , for example . Closure moulders especially are stepping up their efforts and investing in dedicated cells to produce high quality and anti-refill closures made up of a number of complex parts .” Due to the intricacy of these closures , moulding precision is paramount .
Tamper evident closures is one method deployed by packaging manufacturers to counteract fraud in the premium drinks , wellbeing and pharmaceutical markets ( iStock . com / bert _ phantana )
32 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk
Significant investment in high quality tooling , automation , machinery and expertise can be another major deterrent , highlights Ashlee . “ Realistically , few counterfeit operators would make the level of investment required to replicate this level of technical precision .”