PCC unveils anti-counterfeit taggants for plastics

Plastics Color Corp of the US has introduced a new range of security taggants that can be added to plastic products to allow their authenticity to be verified.

The Mi Batch line of particle taggants are compatible with a wide variety of resins and have a chemical/spectral signature that becomes part of the plastic material or item, says PCC.

Detection equipment (handheld or inline) is employed to read the embedded taggant signature and verify authenticity of the polymer, product or component.

The taggants impart "an extremely high level of security and verification to virtually any consumer product as well as items used in high-risk markets such as electronics, medical products, aviation and automotive," claims PCC.

"Many product manufacturers think if an item is inexpensive to produce it doesn't warrant security measures," says PCC's vice president of business development Tim Workman.

The decision to employ a taggant should be based on the value of the item, material or brand to the manufacturer or seller, the risks or safety concerns associated with a counterfeit, and its value relative to its production cost, he added.

"What they don’t realize is that counterfeiters look at profit - something that is cheap to produce but has high resale value offers great profit potential."