In the 2019/20 season, Tasmania’s Reid Fruits managed to thwart at least 10 counterfeiting attempts. It did so by using the patented Smart Fingerprint secure label technology from Australian tech company Laava. In 2020/21, Reid is building on that success.
This season, Reid Fruits becomes the first Australian horticultural exporter to combine Laava Smart Fingerprints and Source Certain International provenance verification technology. It will then pair with e-Commerce and digital marketing company RooLife Group’s Guzhang consumer engagement and social commerce platform.
The partnership combines scientific and digital security measures to give Reid Fruits one of the industry’s strongest brand protection capabilities and integrates them with a consumer engagement platform and media campaign tailored to its key markets.
The Source Certain provenance protection program for Reid Fruits will see cherries from all of Reid Fruits’ southern Tasmanian orchards being sampled and analysed. Each orchard will carry a chemical fingerprint unique to that specific location, which will be stored in a secure database for the potential of cross-referencing during future in-market sampling activities.
Reid Fruits managing director Tim Reid says the combination of Laava and Source Certain gives consumers confidence when buying their cherries. “For our export partners, it demonstrates we are continually innovating to protect our brand and look after our customers and partners,” he says.
Source Certain specialises in provenance verification technology, with its TSW Trace able to analyse the chemical, molecular, elemental, and isotopic composition of products which are directly influenced by where the product is grown.
Its scientific technology is already used throughout Australia’s prawn, pork and barramundi industries to safeguard the integrity of export markets and help avoid significant economic loss to Australia.
Source Certain COO Grant Erskine says: “We implement scientific verification technology within ongoing programs that protect the integrity of food as it moves from high quality producers like Reid Fruits at their farms in Tasmania all the way through to consumers in Australia and abroad.
“Our ongoing verification of the cherries in-market is a great complement to the on-product digital authentication of the Laava Fingerprint – and now this year consumers will be able to learn the full story.”
Laava joint CEO and commercial director Gavin Ger says the company was pleased to be continuing its relationship with Reid. He says: “Collaborating with Source Certain and RooLife brings the power of our combined Australian technology to protect and enhance one of Australia’s most revered export brands.”
