FEATURE Plastics & Injection Moulding
Protecting premium food and beverage brand integrity
C
ounterfeiting in the luxury food and drinks industry has long been a multi-million 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. 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 fi ght 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 fi ve declared that no checks were made as part of sourcing decisions. Yet, despite these prevalent risks – 97 per cent stated that they’d been affected by food fraud in the last 12 months.
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 £11.97 billion per annum. In a converted effort to crackdown on
groups profi ting from illicit versions of branded spirits and premium foods, manufacturers are making labels more diffi cult to copy and bottles harder to refi ll. “One way to counteract counterfeiting and
product tampering is through the innovative design of packaging that cannot be easily copied,” highlights Mr Gough.
24 March 2022 Irish Manufacturing
IML labels with unique identifi ers, such as a QR code, holograms or tags, are other methods that can deter counterfeiti ng
Tamper evident closures is one method deployed by packaging manufacturers to counteract fraud in the premium drinks, wellbeing and pharmaceutical markets
“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-refi ll closures made up of a number of complex parts.”
Due to the intricacy of these closures, moulding precision is paramount. Signifi cant investment in high quality tooling, automation, machinery and expertise can be another major deterrent, he goes on. “Realistically, few counterfeit operators
would make the level of investment required to replicate this level of technical precision.” Other overt packaging methods to deter counterfeits include concealing unique identifi ers, such as a QR code, holograms or tags within the IML. While these can assist with track and tracing, Mr Gough claims that they only really help to validate the origin of a container and tend to be more widely deployed by luxury food brands.
“Manufacturers may need to deploy several tactics to prevent brand value being diluted, including tamper evident bands, secure closures, barcoded labels and batch codes.” For packaging moulders producing thin walled containers, caps and closures by the millions, cost effectiveness remains vital. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag’s El-Exis SP range
typically achieves between three and fi ve per cent more productivity when benchmarked against other packaging machines on the market. Now in its fourth generation and always aligned to evolving market trends, the EL-Exis SP series is designed to withstand the higher stresses and injection pressures that are so critical in achieving repeatability in closures and thin walled packaging products, while maintaining comparable mechanical properties. Centralised monitoring of real time machine performance and energy consumption is equally critical to reducing machine downtime. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag
http://uk.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu
www.irish-manufacturing.com
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