Verify aims authentication suite at chemicals sector

Verify Brand has started pitching its serialization, traceability and authentication software as a tool to prevent counterfeiting of chemicals.

The company says its Verify platform uses secure unique identifiers (sUIDs) and product traceability features to give manufacturers chain‐of‐custody tracking that creates an "audit trail and alert system from the point of production to end‐user delivery".

"Counterfeiters have found a lucrative business selling fake and illegal pesticides, grey market refrigerants and other high‐value chemicals," said Mark Prokosch, vice president of Verify Brand.

"Our secure software helps identify and isolate illegitimate chemicals, pinpoint any diverted product, and ultimately improve end‐user confidence," he added.

The company notes that counterfeit chemicals have been implicated in a number of serious public health and safety incidents in recent years, including explosions involving service engineers in the refrigerated container sector that killed three people in Vietnam and Brazil in 2011.

Fake refrigerants are of particular concern, with a number of instances reported of contamination of these products with R40 (methyl chloride or chloromethane), which dramatically increases the risks of an explosion, according to a white paper published earlier this year by the American Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).

Meanwhile, the Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC) - whose members include producers of printer ink and toner powder - estimates that 100 per cent of its members are affected by counterfeiting that costs the industry $3bn, while Europol has reported that 25 per cent of the EU pesticides market is illicit.

"Chemical manufacturers and brands with products that contain these chemicals can strengthen their supply chain with the cloud‐based Verify platform," according to Prokosch.