The Authentication Times Issue 33

The Official newsletter of Authentication Solution Provider' Association (ASPA) Feb - Mar 2018 | Volume 12 | Issue 33
CELEBRATING
YEARS OF
AUTHENTICATION
1998-2018
Rising case of
fake infant milk remains
a serious concern.
Issue No. 30

Viewpoint
DearReaders,
rd
Welcometothe33 editionof TheAuthenticationTimes.
In, The Authentication Times, we continue to raise the issue of
counterfeiting,whichimpactstheconsumersandsocietyby large.
Our current edition focusses on the follow up story on issue of rising
incidents of fake baby infant milk products. We are proud to say that
th
TheAuthenticationTimescoveredthisstoryinits30 editionas well.
Managing food safety standards across a global supply chain is complex
and challenging. However, steps must be taken to ensure safe and secure
shipping,anddistributionof food productsthatendup inconsumer's hands.
In a recent development, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) have announced notification for organic food traceability. To
protect the 25 million babies born every year in India, it is essential to
protect baby milk powders and other nutritional products from the scourge
of counterfeiting. The Authentication Times urges, FSSAI to take similar
stepsfor allfooditemsespeciallybabyfoodproducts.
The cover story again highlights this issue of fake baby milk, challenging
issue in detail covering aspects such as its impact, consequences and why
theimportanceofsecuredpackagingis becomingneedof anhour.
In this issue, you will also find interesting developments happening in
traceability via blockchain technology, GS1 view on food traceability along
withlatestnews fromindustry.
We hope you will found this issue informative and interesting and as
always,we lookforward toreceivingyour feedback.
Chander S Jeena
Editor, The Authentication Times
In this issue
PUBLISHED BY Authentication Solution Providers’Assciation (ASPA)
EDITORIAL TEAM Issue Editor: C S Jeena
Principal Correspondent: Sanjiv Singh
IMAGE CONSULTANT P R Mantra
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Nairobi Kenya
INDEXIssue 33
4-6
Rising case of fake
infant milk remains
a serious concern.
Achieve Food
Safety through
Global Standards
Establishing
Organic Food
Products'
Traceability
mandatory, says
FSSAI
SON Unveils
Product
Authentication
Mark Logo
Questionnaire
How blockchain
is strengthening
tuna traceability
to combat illegal
fishing
News
7
1-3
11
8
9
13-15

1
COVER STORYIssue 33
n what can be a major threat for the
Iinfants across the world as Malayasian
authorities have again exposed fake
babymilkscaminthecountryrecently.
The authorities in Malaysia's Johor State
have seized over 210 boxes of suspected
fake formula from stores. Three of the
locations raided by the authorities found
that storekeepers had scattered the boxes of
fake infant formula among the containers of
the legitimate product but had continued to
sell the counterfeit product for the same
price (about $50 per box). To make the task
of tracing the fake product back to its
original source a more confounding matter,
the authorities discovered that the receipts
and invoices being issued by the retail
stores had been using a label that included
the address for a made-up manufacturing
company.
In their post, Enfagrow also included some
tips on how to differentiate between real
and fake milk powder, whereby one of the
easiest steps is to look at the individual foil
pouches. Apparently, if it is a counterfeit
item, there will be distinctive sharp creases
on both sides whereas the original milk
powder wouldappearpuffy.
However, it is not the first incident in recent
times when the infants milk products have
been counterfeited. In 2016, nine people
were arrested in China for selling fake baby
formula under the brands Similac and
Beingmate, and about 1,000 cans of milk
powder, 20,000 empty cans and 65,000
fake Similac trademarks were seized. More
than 17,000 cans had reached retailers'
shelves. The story is not new for China
either, as in 2008, an estimated 300,000
victims in China, six babies died from
kidney stones and other kidney damage and
an estimated 54,000 babies were
hospitalised.
In India, according to a survey conducted
by the Food Safety and StandardsAuthority
of India (FSSAI) in 2011, 68.4 per cent of
milk served throughout the country was
found adulterated, which itself defines the
grim situation and calls for strict rules over
fake and adulterated milk. Last year, one of
biggest states in India, Tamil Nadu's dairy
minister Rajendra Balaji alleged milk
Authorities confiscate 210 boxes of fake milk formula from shops in Malaysia
In their post, Enfagrow
also included some tips on
how to differentiate
between real and fake
milk powder, whereby one
of the easiest steps is to
look at the individual foil
pouches. Apparently, if it is
a counterfeit item, there
will be distinctive sharp
creases on both sides
whereas the original milk
powder would appear
puffy.
Rising case of fake infant milk remains a
serious concern.

1850's: New York Milk Scandal
2
COVER STORYIssue 33
adulteration by private firms, saying there
were contents of caustic soda and
bleaching powder in the milk products.
Balaji was not worried about the health
secretary's earlier report to the court
claiming that no such adulterants were
discovered. He stated that he has with him
laboratoryresults,whichprovehis claim.
Adulteration of milk and other dairy
products has existed since old times. In
1850's, the Swill Milk Scandal in NewYork
had resulted in an estimated death of 8,000
infants at that time. It was named swill milk
because cows were fed swill, which was
residual mash from nearby distilleries. The
milk was whitened with plaster of Paris,
thickened with starch and eggs, and hued
withmolasses.
The story has not changed in the last 150
years, the fraudsters are still playing with
the health of children and emotions of
parents. Because of the increased demands,
high growth in competition in the dairy
markets and increasing complexity of the
supply chain, some unscrupulous milk
producers are still indulging in milk fraud.
This malpractice has become a big
common problem in the developing
countries. Milk is often subjected to fraud
(by means of adulteration) for lack of
proper hygienic conditions of processing
storage or financial gain, transportation
and marketing. The issue has become a
serious issue as in between December 2013
and January 2014, Interpol and Europol
confiscated more than 1,200 tons of
counterfeit or substandard food and almost
430,000 litres of counterfeit beverages
including more than 131,000 litres of oil
andvinegar.
Theneed of securepackaging
The increase in various incidents over the
globe has highlighted the importance of
tamper evident food packaging. The
worldwide need for anti-counterfeiting
labels for food is substantial. According to
Dr. Arvind Shenoy an expert with over 42
years of experience in food analysis and
testing, as much as 25 - 30 per cent of
edibles sold in the market are intentionally
adulterated. He further cited that it is
difficult for the consumer to detect the
extent of adulteration. It can be intentional,
unintentional or natural. Especially items
like baby food and nutritional products
need special attention and require simply
no room for compromise on any level. At a
preventive step, all these types of items
which already come in packing items
should be combined with at-least one level
of authenticationsolution.
Importance of SecurePackaging
 There are end numbers of authentication
solutions available in market, which can
be integrated with primary and
secondary packaging to prevent risk of
tampering.Although any package can be
breeched, tamper-evident features
cannot easily be replaced. Tamper-
evident features include banding, special
membranes, breakaway closures, and
special printing on bottle liners or
composite cans such as graphics or text
that irreversibly change upon opening.
For example, Ames International Inc. a
Tacoma,Wash.-based company that sells
chocolates and nuts uses a variety of
t a m p e r- e v i d e n t t e c h n i q u e s t o
accommodate the breadth of containers.
For canisters and jars, Ames applies an
induction seal across the mouth of the
container and for boxes of chocolates,
shrink wrap provides evidence if the
packaged is opened. Similarly, one of the
major players in food packaging
companies in India ITC offers a range of
value additions for carton board
packaging such as UV offset printing,
Foil Stamping, Embossing, Window
patching & lined cartons, etc. Numerous

COVER STORY
3
types of tamper evident or tamper
resistant label product configurations
havebeendeveloped.Theseinclude;
 Multi-layered substrate constructions
that de-laminate or separate to reveal
hiddenmessage
 Fragile or ultra-fragile label stocks that
provide tamper evidence due to their low
structural integrity. Usually combined
withahighstrengthadhesive
 Security labels incorporating security
cuts which enable the label to break-up
when removal is attempted, i.e. in
productpricinglabel
 Pilfer indicating seals that incorporate an
adhesive activated dye that exposes as
hidden message if attempts are made to
re-sealacontainer
 Shrink sleeves that partly or completely
envelop the pack closure. The sleeves
can also be perforated to enhance tamper-
evidence
 Tape seals that contain unique features
that make it apparent that seals have been
removed
In September 2016 issue of The
Authentication Times, we raised a similar
concern and published our cover story on
FAKE BABYMILK. Food adulteration is a
serious issue, which needs to be
investigated as a potential food safety and
public health concern at the earliest. The
chances of fake products manifold in
absence of secured packaging, and we need
to be extremely careful especially when it is
about the health of children and our people.
To protect millions of babies across the
world it is essential to protect baby milk
powder and other nutritional products from
the scourge of counterfeiting. This can be
achieved by securing supply chains
through authentication, track-and-trace and
other digital solutions, as well as by
applying tamper-proof or tamper-evident
physical solutions onto packaging, such as
security labels and holograms. Government
has a big role to play in mandating such
measures in the interest of public health and
safety while also generating awareness of
the issue. Only by all stakeholders -
industry, government, solution providers –
coming together can we protect the health
of the most vulnerable members of our
society. For detailed read Issue 30,
September 2016, The Authentication
Times.
Issue 33
VOLUNTARY
PRODUCT
REPLACEMENT
PROGRAM
Picture 1
Product Targeted by
Counterfeiters
Picture 2
Replacement Product
Key Identifiers
 New placement of
MJN Logo
 New hexagonal
DHA+ARA Logo
(versus round)
 New hexagonal
MFGM Complex
logo
 Step number in
white (versus blue)
The manufacturer of Enfalac infant formula has asked consumers and retailers to
return the affected products for replacements. (Image: Facebook/Mead Johnson Malaysia)

EXPERT’S VIEWIssue 33
Achieve
Food
Safety
through
Global
Standards
4
ood crises are not new to India. As
Fper a news report published by the
US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), 'Chicken Tikka Masala products
exported from India are recalled due to
possible listeria contamination.' According
to another news report, US FDA has
rejected a number of snack imports made
by an Indian company for concerns over
high levels of pesticides, mold, and
bacteria.
With such instances, food safety has
become a major issue worldwide and is
attracting the attention of regulators,
industry,andconsumersalike.
An important aspect of food quality and
safety assurance is the ability to trace back a
product to its source and track its forward
movement through specific stage(s) of the
extended food supply chains, spanning
from 'farm' to 'fork'. This, in turn, enhances
product visibility and reduces the chance of
unsafe food distribution, facilitating speedy
and accurate food recalls whenever
required.
There is a prevalent need and growing
demand for food businesses to implement a
transparent, standards-based traceability
system, spanning across the supply chain,
as ariskmanagementtool.
Food supply chains with geographically
dispersed stakeholders require efficient and
seamless track & trace systems, which
use unique identification of food
items/consignments captured in barcodes
using GS1 global standards. The same
standards are used in enabling structured
electronic information exchange between
supply chainpartners.
ManageRecallsEfficiently
The greatest threat to the success of food
industry today is the possibility of a
devastating recall that can destroy
reputation and brand image of a company
as well as raise consumer safety issues.
Worldwide, businesses, consumers, and
regulators have a common interest in
establishing an affordable, uniform, and
interoperable system that can enable supply
chain partners to initiate a rapid and
efficient recall, and track its progress
through to its conclusion. It ensures that the
potentially harmful product is no longer
availablefor consumption.
An effective recall needs seamless dataflow
among supply chain partners with
unambiguous and unique identification of
products, consignments, locations, parties
and documents. This, in turn, requires
implementation of globally accepted GS1

5
Issue 33
standards within the food supply chain
crossing over geographically dispersed
partners and complying with the
requirements of varied buyers/regulators
worldwide.
BuildConsumerTrust
Traceability is an in dispensable tool to
fulfil consumers' need for additional
product information to ensure that it
conforms to the nutritional requirements,
consumers' religious beliefs, and respects
theirlifestylechoices.
Further, with rising incidents of unsafe food
making way into supply chain, consumers
need assurance on food safety through
access of information at different stages in
the supply chain. With traceability, firms
can thus build a relationship of trust with
their consumers through their capability to
provide information related to any item, at
any point, whenever required. This in turn,
protects consumer safety and enhances
brandreputation.
StreamlineGlobalSupply Chains
GS1 standards provide a common way to
streamline food supply chains worldwide,
from multinationalplayers to SMEs. Below
are a few examples of the adoption of GS1
standards by food sector: Increasing grape
export revenue in India: Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA),
Government of India's agro-trade
promotion body in GrapeNet, adopted GS1
traceability solution for the monitoring of
fresh grapes exported from India to
European Union, etc. The adoption of the
solution has improved confidence of
importing countries in Indian products,
resulting in an increase in grape export
revenue. Complying to the European Food
Law: The adoption of GS1-based
traceability system has helped Synbroad
Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer of canned
fruit and vegetables, to strengthen its
competitive compliancy to the European
Food Law and export its products to the
European markets. The manufacturer also
improved its traceability system by
allowing all parties in the chain to register
all ingoing and outgoing traceable items to
achieve transparency. Strengthening
business relationship: A Chinese vegetable
exporter enhanced its competiveness in
European markets through compliance
EXPERT’S VIEW
In their post, Enfagrow
also included some tips on
how to differentiate
between real and fake milk
powder, whereby one of
the easiest steps is to look
at the individual foil
pouches. Apparently, if it is
a counterfeit item, there
will be distinctive sharp
creases on both sides
whereas the original milk
powder would appear
puffy.

with the European Food Law by
implementing GS1-based traceability
system and making traceability
information electronically available to
interested parties. It helped the exporter in
building stable business relationship with
many European retailers and become their
reliable food supplier. Packaging company
gains competitive advantage: Vartini
Packing implemented GS1 standards based
traceability solution to meet the traceability
demands of their clients including Unilever
and Henkel for real-time visibility. For
Vartini Packing, this meant reduced cycle
times in responding to traceability requests
from clients, from several hours to minutes,
and hence reduced administrative costs
such as information searching. With
increased confidence of their clients,
Vartini saw 20 per cent increase in sales
withtheirmajorclients.
MeetRegulatoryCompliance
Understanding the benefits of using global
traceability standards, retailers and
Regulators worldwide are mandating their
adoption to ensure food safety. Hence,
implementing the global GS1 standards
will also enable organisations to increase
business opportunities by meeting various
Regulatoryrequirementson foodsafety.
Further, unique identification of products
with global standards, which is one of the
milestonesin enabling traceability,
facilitate organisations to list their products
in national and global product catalogues
for buyers and consumers to view product
information on scanning of barcodes. In
India, the Smart Consumer mobile app of
the Department of Consumer Affairs is
powered by one such national product data
repository– DataKart.
Department of Consumer Affairs and Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) have each directed manufacturers
of food products, and other consumer
goods,to ensure that their product
information is available through Smart
Consumer mobile app for easy access by
consumers.
Promote'BrandIndia'
India, with its huge expanse of cultivable
land, various seasons, huge surplus of
cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, meat
and poultry, can be the food basket of the
world. But the country has not been able to
realise its full potential in terms of
productivity, profitability, and export
market share on account of several
challengesitfacestoday.
One of these challenges relate to ensuring
food safety across supply chain trading
partners, which requires greater use of
collaborative partnerships and the use of
interoperable systems to capture structured
and standardised information related to
product movement. This can be achieved
through GS1 standards based traceability
system where each trading partner would
share event-specific information with
others in the supply chain in a uniform,
consistentandaffordablemanner.
EXPERT’S VIEWIssue 33
6
Readiness of Indian businesses in implementing food
traceability and recall solutions was recently gauged by a
study, jointly conducted by CII and GS1 India. It assesses
current practices in food supply chains from visibility and
traceability perspectives, across food categories. The
report can be accessed from CII FACE (www.face-cii.in)
and GS1 India (www.gs1india.org) websites.
About the Author
Charu Khanna (charu@gs1india.org) is Assistant
Manager - Marketing Communications at GS1 India – a
standards body set up by the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, FIEO, IMC, APEDA, Spices
Board, IIP and BIS. One of its focus areas is development
and implementation of global, ISO referenced standards,
which enable food safety and compliance with global
regulatory requirements.

7
POLICY INITIATIVES
7
Issue 33
Establishing Organic Food Products' Traceability mandatory,
says FSSAI
Stating that it was mandatory for
manufacturers of organic food
products to establish their
traceability, the Food Safety Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a gazette
notification containing organic food
regulations, laying down those pertaining
totheirlabelling,certificationandimport.
The notification stated, “Traceability shall
be established upto the producer level as
applicable under the systems mentioned in
Regulation 4 and shall include any other
requirements prescribed by the food
authority to maintain the organic integrity
ofthefoodproduct.”
Regulation 4 of this notification describes
the applicability of the systems, which
include (i) the National Programme for
Organic Production (NPOP); (ii) the
Participatory Guarantee System for India
(PGS-India) and (iii) any other system or
standards as may be notified by the
country's apex food regulator from time to
time.
These regulations, which are called the
Food Safety and Standards (Organic
Foods) Regulations, 2017, will come into
forceonJuly1,2018.
Amit Dhanuka, former president, All India
Food Processors' Association (AIFPA),
saiditwas awelcomemove.
He added, “Post July 1, no random
company will be able to claim that its
products are organic. There were a number
of products which claimed to be organic,
butwereactuallynot.”
“With the organic mark and with this move,
the end consumer will benefit. The
consumer will be assured that the product
they consuming is 100 per cent organic if
the mark is there on the product,” Dhanuka
stated.
It is pertinent to mention here that FSSAI
has already released the logo for organic
food with the name Jaivik Bharat. It also
has been made mandatory for the food
business operators (FBOs) to carry this
logo on the label of the organic food.
Meanwhile, the regulations stated that no
person shall manufacture, pack, sell, offer
for sale, market or otherwise distribute or
import any organic food unless they
comply with the requirements laid down
undertheseregulations.
Moreover, FBOs shall also comply with
other relevant regulations as applicable,
l i k e t h o s e r e l a t e d t o h a n d l i n g ,
transportation, standards for contaminants,
toxins, residue levels [except for the
residues of insecticides for which the
maximum limits shall be five per cent of the
maximum limits prescribed or the level of
quantification(LoQ), whicheverishigher].
Further, the regulations said that the seller
of organic food, either exclusively or as a
part of his retail merchandise, shall display
such food in a manner distinguishable from
the display of non-organic food.
Besides, on the import of organic food, they
stated, “Organic food imports, under
bilateral or multilateral agreements, on the
basis of the equivalence of standards
between NPOP and the organic standards
of the respective exporting countries, shall
not be required to be recertified on import
to India subject to their compliance with the
provisions of the Act, the rules and
regulationsmadethereunder.”
The ministry of agriculture, Government of
India, has also decided to come up with a
new organic farming policy to boost the
organic farming in the country. With
Sikkim declared as the organic state, many
stateshaveadoptedorganicfarming.
An official with the ministry stated organic
farming could be beneficial to the farmers
due to its demand, particularly because
export opportunities were great. It was
stated that the policy was prepared jointly
by the ministries of agriculture, commerce
and industry and food processing
industries.

8
SON Unveils Product Authentication Mark Logo
In an effort to ensure the authenticity
and traceability of products certified to
have met the requirements of the
relevant Nigeria Industrial Standards or
other approved specifications in Nigeria,
t h e S t a n d a r d s O r g a n i s a t i o n o f
Nigeria has introduced PRODUCT
AUTHENTICATION MARK on all locally
manufactured and imported products into
Nigeriafromthesecondquarterof 2018.
Application of PAM on Certified
Products Manufacturers/Importers or their
authorized representative shall affix the
Product Authentication Mark (PAM) only
on retail units of certified products as per
the terms and conditions for use of the
Marks. If the placement of the PAM on
retail unit is not possible, the Mark shall be
affixed on a package containing two or
more Retail Units provided the retail cost of
a single unit shall not be more than NGN
50.00. Any person, organization or other
corporate body that affix PAM on a product
not authorized to bear the Mark e.g. because
there is no record of the product in question
having been certified is liable for criminal
action in accordance with the SON Act 14
of 2015 of Nigeria.
 Imported products already in the market
can be sold without the new PAM up to
one month after the formal launch. No
imported product subject to this
regulation will be allowed for sale in
Nigerian markets without the PAMone
month after the formal launch of the
Mark
 Importers and Local Manufacturers
with huge old stock likely to be in the
market after the above dateline are
advised to apply and acquire the new
Product Authentication Mark from
SON
Procedure for Obtaining PAM
Manufacturers of MANCAP Certified
Products and Importers of SONCAP
Certified products shall apply for issuance
of PAM by completing an application form
online,on SON websitewww.son.gov.ng.
For Importers, application for PAM
Stickers MUST be submitted before SON
final clearance of the goods from the Ports
of Entry.
For MANCAP certified products,
application for PAM shall be submitted
prior to the production of every batch of
product with details of certification
information. The Manufacturer shall
provide half year estimated quantities of
certified products retail/sales unit expected
tobeproducedandpayfor same.
According to officials, Agency destroyed
two billion Euro (N896bn) worth of
substandard products in two years. The
PAM would help consumers identify
genuine products from substandard ones as
they would bear the stamp of the
manufacturer and a consumer would only
need to scan a number on the product with a
smartphone and all the information
concerning the manufacturer, date and
expirydatewould popup.
Source:http://son.gov.ng/
POLICY INITIATIVESIssue 33

79
Questionnaire
Question 1: Can you
please brief us about
Optrace?
Optrace was established in 2013 as a High
Potential Start Up company to
manufacture serialised holograms with
support from Enterprise Ireland
(www.enterprise-ireland.com) and
Venture Capital. The company spun out of
an extended research programme in
holographic applications at Dublin
Institute of Technology and employs
engineers and scientists with extensive
experience in engineering design, optics,
lasers, photosensitive materials and
holographic techniques. Our first mass
production machine was delivered and
commissioned in 2016.
Question 2: What
made you interested
in being part of this
industry and your
views on anti-
counterfeiting
industry in terms of
market opportunities,
current challenges,
threats etc.?
We have long been aware of the global
problem of counterfeit goods and their
growing adverse economic (Bn$500)
impacts. Falsified personal documentation
and legal tender are also problematical.
Holograms have long been used as anti-
counterfeit devices but now are so
ubiquitous that they are outgrowing their
effectiveness mainly because of failure to
check. Besides even the newest
holograms are quickly replicated.
Holograms can make a valuable
contribution to combatting fraud if they
can be truly serialised. By that we mean
that each hologram is entirely unique. It
must also be easily verifiable.
Question 3:
What are Optrace
solutions and strategy
on tapping anti-
counterfeiting
demand?
A recording material that requires no
physical or chemical processing after
exposure is practically essential for
serialised hologram production. Optrace
uses its patented photopolymer and
recording techniques allowing rapid
change of the object beam in the
hologram recording system.
Our holograms can incorporate
alphanumeric data, brand logos, personal
signatures, portraits and phone scannable
QR codes all in volume holographic form.
We also supply mass manufacturing
machinery as well as point of issue
machines for holographic ID.
In addition, Optrace's recording machines
produce serialized Fourier (and other
transform) holograms for use as covert
security device to be machine read or red
using an appropriate laser pointer.
Question 4: How do
you see the market
and opportunities for
photopolymer
holographic labels in
upcoming years?
We are already engaged with the market
for low cost reliable optical devices for
brand protection, tamper evidence and
document (including banknote) security.
Ease of use and user confidence will help
grow the market.
Question 5: How are
Optrace solutions
different from other
competing
technologies?
The key difference between our solutions
and competing technologies is
holographic serialisation. The QR code
for example is itself a hologram and is a
volume rather than a surface hologram.
We have also dispensed entirely with the
need for mastering. Furthermore, our
photopolymer has its own unique set of
spectroscopic signatures.
Question 6: What is
Optrace's budget on
Research and
Development
activities?
In the past three years we have spent over
€500,000 on our Research &
Development.
Question 7: How is the
response of brand
owners towards your
solutions?
It's been excellent. A wide spectrum of
brand owners have clearly seen the
potential benefits of serialised holography
and want to try our solutions, for
applications ranging from high value
brands, event tickets, credit cards,
personal ID and legal documentation,
track and trace.
Question 8: Finally,
where do you see
Optrace in next five
years?
Now that the barriers to mass
manufacture of serialised holograms have
been overcome we anticipate new types
of holograms. We expect serialised
holograms with capability for sensing
temperature, pressure, or humidity (all
already demonstrated) including
reversible and irreversible devices. It is
of great importance to us and to our
customers to stay ahead of the
counterfeiters and make life as difficult
for them as possible. We also anticipate
significant growth in personnel to about
50 engineers and scientists, and a sales
force of at least 10 with a growing
dominance in the worldwide market for
anti-counterfeit optical devices.
Issue 33 INTERVIEW

11
NEWSIssue 33
How blockchain is strengthening tuna traceability to
combat illegal fishing
As seen here, once the tuna is caught, a reusable tag
is attached, from which information is then automatically
uploaded to blockchain. WWF
In a significant development
f o r g l o b a l f i s h e r i e s ,
blockchain technology is
now being used to improve tuna
traceability to help stop illegal
and unsustainable fishing
practices in the Pacific Islands
tuna industry. The World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) in Australia, Fiji and
New Zealand, in partnership with US-
based tech innovator ConsenSys, tech
implementer TraSeable and tuna fishing and
processing company Sea Quest Fiji Ltd, has
just launched a pilot project in the Pacific
Islands tuna industry that will use
blockchain technology to track the journey
oftunafrom“baittoplate”.
The aim is to help stop illegal, unreported
and unregulated fishing and human rights
abuses in the tuna industry. These have
included reports of corruption, illegal
trafficking and human slavery on tuna
fishing boats. It is hoped the use of
blockchain technology will strengthen
transparency and enable full traceability,
thereby countering significant threats to
licensing revenue and crew working
conditions and safety, and broader impacts
ontheenvironment.
Blockchainisevolvingbeyond Bitcoin
Blockchain technology is rapidly evolving
beyond Bitcoin. Emerging applications are
geared to improve business in many ways –
including supply-chain transparency for all
kinds of products. A blockchain is a digital
ledger that is distributed, decentralised,
verifiable and irreversible. It can be used to
record transactions of almost anything of
value. Essentially, it is a shared (not copied)
database that everyone in the network can
see and update. This system provides
multiple benefits for supply chains,
including high levels of transparency. This is
because everyone in the network can see and
verify the ledger, and no individual can alter
ordeletethehistoryoftransactions.
For consumers, this means you will be able
to scan a code on an item you want to buy and
find out exactly where it has been before
landing in your hands. It will be easy to
answer those tricky questions about whether
or not an item – such as a fish – is sustainable,
ethicalor legal.
Using blockchaintotracetuna
The WWF pilot project will use a
c o m b i n a t i o n o f r a d i o - f r e q u e n c y
identification (RFID) tags, quick response
(QR) code tags and scanning devices to
collect information about the journey of a
tuna at various points along the supply chain.
While this use of technology is not new for
supply-chain tracking, the exciting part is
that the collected information will then
be recorded using blockchain technology.
Tracking will start as soon as the tuna is
caught. Once a fish is landed, it will be
attached with a reusable RFID tag on the
vessel. Devices fitted on the vessel, at the
dock and in the processing factory will then
detect the tags and automatically upload
informationtotheblockchain.
Once the fish has been processed, the
reusable RFID tag will be switched for a
cheaper QR code tag, which will be attached
to the product packaging. The unique QR
code will be linked to the blockchain record
associated with the particular fish and its
original RFID tag. The QR code tag will be
used to trace the rest of the journey of the fish
totheconsumer.
At the moment, linking tags is not difficult
because the project is focusing on whole
round exports – that is, the whole fresh fish
minus head, gills and guts. It gets a little
more complicated when the fish is cut up
into loins, steaks, cubes and cans, but the
project team is now able to link the QR code
tags on the packages of the processed fish
with the record of the original fish on the
blockchain.
While it may be possible to use RFID tags
throughout the whole process, the expense

12
NEWSIssue 33
of these tags could prohibit smaller
operators in the fishing industry from
participating in the scheme if it expands.
There is also potential to use near field
communicator (NFC) devices to track the
fish all the way to the consumer in the
future.
Bringing much-needed transparency to
the industry
While this use of the blockchain is the first
of its kind for the Pacific Islands region, it is
not a world first. A company called
Provenence and the International Pole and
Line Association (IPLA) has already
completed a successful pilot project tracing
products from Indonesian tuna fisheries to
consumers in the UK. Provenance is also
working on using blockchain to track a
range of other physical things – including
cotton, fashion, coffee and organically
farmed food products. However, the
potential of blockchain goes further. For
example, Kodak recently launched its own
cryptocurrency to help photographers track
and protect their digital intellectual
property.
Blockchain technology is just starting to
change the way business is done. If it
delivers on its promise of supply-chain
transparency, it will be a great tool to help
ensure that industries – including the tuna
industry – are doing the right thing. This
will give consumers more information on
which to base their purchasing decisions.
For the global tuna industry, which has
historically struggled with illegal and
environmentally dubious fishing practices,
this could be a turning point as visionary
fishing companies demonstrate true
stewardship and begin to open up the
industrytofulltransparency.

13
NEWSIssue 33
Interpol Pangea completes 10 Years;
Medicines worth US $ 240.5 Million seized
LYON, France – In the largest action
o f i t s k i n d , I N T E R P O L ' s
Operation Pangea X targeting the
illicit online sale of medicines and medical
devices saw some 400 arrests worldwide
and the seizure of more than USD 51
million worth of potentially dangerous
medicines. Involving 197 police, customs
and health regulatory authorities from
record 123 countries, Operation Pangea X
led to a record number of 25 million illicit
and counterfeit medicines seized
worldwide. The action resulted in the
launch of 1,058 investigations, 3,584
websites taken offline and the suspension
of more than 3,000 online adverts for illicit
pharmaceuticals.
Starting with just eight countries in 2008,
Operation Pangea has grown exponentially
during the past 10 years, with police,
customs and drug regulatory authorities
from 123 countries taking part in 2017.
A dedicated operations centre at
INTERPOL's General Secretariat
headquarters in Lyon served as the central
hub for information exchange among the
participating countries and agencies. From
this base, the World Customs Organization
(WCO) coordinated activities between
participating customs administrations and
the Pangea team via its secure messaging
system, and a mobile Europol office in
Budapest, Hungary also conducted cross-
checks.
Fig: Among the fake and illicit medicines
seized during the international week of
action were dietary supplements, pain
reduction pills, epilepsy medication,
erectile dysfunction pills, anti-psychotic
medication and nutritional products.
Source: https://www.interpol.int
Table: Seizures in Operation Pangea
Operation Date & Year Countries Participated Arrests Website taken offline Seized Material In million Estimated Value of seized material in million
Pangea X 2017 123 400 3584 25 M $ 51 M
Pangea IX 2016 103 393 4,932 12.2 M $ 53 M
Pangea VIII 9-16 June 2015 115 156 2410 20.7 M $ 81 M
Pangea VII 13-20 May 2014 113 198 11800 9.6 M $ 32 M
Pangea VI 18-28 June 2013 99 213 13,700 10.1 M -
Pangea V 25 Sep-2 Oct 2012 100 80 18,000 3.75 M $10.5 M
Pangea IV 20-27 Sep 2011 81 55 13,500 2.4 M $6.3 M
Pangea III 5-12 Oct 2010 44 87 297 2 M $ 6.7 M
Pangea II 16-20 Nov 2009 25 12 153 0.67 M -
Pangea I 12 Nov 2008 10 - - -
S Selvakumar appointed CMD of SPMCIL
Selvakumar, has been appointed as
Snew Chairman and Manging
Director (CMD) of Security
Printing and Minting Corporation of India
Ltd(SPMCIL).
Selvakumar replaces Anurag Agarwal who
was appointed to the post on September 27,
2017. The decision also comes days after
the SPMCILissued a notice on January 8 to
all the four mints in Kolkata, Noida,
Hyderabad and Mumbai to stop minting of
circulation coins owing to an inventory pile
up.
The decision, however, was revoked on
January 11. The state-owned SPMCIL
produces bank notes, coins, postage
stamps, non-judicial stamps and other
official documents. Selvakumar, a 1997
batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer was
appointed as Joint Secretary in DEA in
2015.
Earlier, he was director in the Prime
Minister's Office and Managing Director of
K a r n a t a k a P o w e r Tr a n s m i s s i o n
Corporation.

14
NEWSIssue 33
Currency Note Press (India) to raise printing
capacity by 4 million pieces
Nashik, India: The Currency Note
Press (CNP) Nashik is planning to
expand its capacity of printing
currency notes.The CNPNashik, which is a
unit of the Security Printing and Minting
Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL), is in
the process of setting up a new bank note
printing and finishing line at an investment
ofINR 200 crore(INR 2 billion).
The CNP has invited bids for design,
manufacturing, testing, supply, installation,
commissioning, training and performance
testing of one bank note printing and
finishing line. Presently, the press has four
lines with capacity of printing 18 million
pieces of currency notes per day. After
setting up the fifth line, the production
capacity will increase by another four
million pieces per day, as per media
sources.
The CNP prints currency notes of all
denominations except INR 2,000. Post
demonetisation in November last year, so
far, it has printed 1,800 million pieces of the
new INR 500 denominationcurrencynotes.
Currently, CNP Nashik has started printing
the new INR 200 currency note and has
printed around 3.5 million pieces of INR
200 note so far. It plans to print around 7
million pieces of INR 200 note per day and
has already started printing the new version
of currency notes with denomination of
INR 50.
The SPMCIL — printing government
currencies and other security documents
and manufactures coins — has nine units
across the country, including two each in
Nashik and Hyderabad and a unit each in
Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida, Dewas and
Hoshangabad.
Of these, there are only two Currency Notes
Presses of SPMCIL that prints currency
notes. One is located at Nashik, while the
otherisinDewas.
There are two presses of SPMCILin Nashik
— the CNP and India Security Press (ISP).
The revenue stamps, stamp papers,
passports and visas are printed at ISP, while
currencynotesareprintedattheCNP.
ASPA raises fake pesticides issue at
International Crop-Science Conference & Exhibition
A
SPA secretariat, Chander S Jeena,
presented a paper on topic Fight
against Counterfeiting by
empowering your consumers (The
Smartphone:Anew tool to spot) at the 12th
International Crop-Science Conference &
Exhibition, organized by Pesticides
Manufacturers & Formulators Association
of India (PMFAI) held on 9-10th November
2017atHotelClarkAmer, Jaipur, India.
PMFAI is a National Association
comprising of over 200 Members across the
country manufacturing Agrochemicals
products. Over 400 delegates from
Agrochemicals industry across the globe
attendedthisevent.
ASPA presentation was in background that
the agricultural industry is facing multiple
threats as these fake pesticides consists
inferior formulations which fail to kill pests
and inflict damage on crops. According to
media reports the spurious chemicals
market is growing at 20 per cent per year
resulting is loss of 10.6 million tonnes in
food grain production during the current
year (2015-16), however, the damage
through such products is multi-fold. If, the
problem is not addressed it can reach to
approximately 40 per cent share by value in
thepesticideindustrybyFY'19 inIndia.

15
NEW DEVELOPMENTIssue 33
PharmaSecure ties up with NDDB to protect branded
semen straws
o curb sale of fake bovine semen
Tstraws, US-based PharmaSecure
said it has tied up with the National
Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to
provide technology to protect the latter's
branded straws, thereby safeguarding the
country's indigenous cow population.
NDDB's dairy service division operates
five world class artificial insemination (AI)
stations in the country and their branded -
Superior Animal Genetics (SAGTM) AI
straw contains the frozen semen from the
best bulls of different breeds available in
the country." Due to the popularity of SAG
brand ofAI straws, counterfeiters operating
in various states in the country are
supplying counterfeit SAG branded AI
straws," PharmaSecure, a technology
provider, said in a statement.To address this
problem, the company said it provided a
brand protection solution as part of the
agreement inked with Gujarat-based
government body NDDB, it said.The
solution includes that each semen dose
supplied will have a UniqueAlpha Numeric
Code printed on the AI straw. Cattle
owners, stockbreeders and artificial
insemination technicians can authenticate
the dose by messaging the unique code to a
pre-defined phone number 9900399000, it
added." NDDB's dairy service Managing
Director Omveer Singh said, "We believe
that the menace of counterfeit semen doses
will be rooted out through this initiative."
Currently, about 82 million AI straws are
produced from graded semen stations and
about 7 million counterfeit AI straws are
produced from non-graded semen stations
in the country, he said." We are also going
the extra mile with an awareness campaign
to encourage the cattle owners to verify the
authenticity of AI Straws by making them
aware of the codes and authentication
procedure. I earnestly hope that this tie- up
will play a significant role in safeguarding
thehighqualityindigenousbreedsofcow,".
Tamper-proof degree certificates to be India government’s
first blockchain project
The Indian central government is
e m b a r k i n g o n i t s f i r s t
implementation of a blockchain-
based solution in governance with digital
certification of education degrees, which
will be issued using the distributed
computing technology starting with batches
graduating in 2019. The trials with what
will be the first implementation of
IndiaChain, as the blockchain solution is
being called, is going to be done with Indian
Institute of Technology, Bombay and
colleges under the Delhi University. The
trials are being done under the aegis of Niti
Aayog, the government’s policy think tank,
according to a source with knowledge of the
development.
“The pilot trials will begin soon and once
that is successfully completed, the full-
scale implementation will start. The plan is
to start issuing digital certificates on the
blockchain (IndiaChain) from the 2019
batch onwards,” the source said. Land titles
could be up next on IndiaChain. “Even
though land titles on the blockchain was
another implementation being talked about,
the process will take much longer as a lot of
the states are yet to digitise their land
records. Education has already been tested
and is comparatively less complex to
implement,”thesourcesaid.
India has the world’s largest student
population of some 315 million. Graduates
top five million every year. The Indian
government is bullish about what
blockchain technology can potentially
deliver in governance. During his Budget
2018-19 presentation, finance minister
Arun Jaitley announced the government’s
plan to clamp down cryptocurrencies but
support blockchain adoption for developing
solutions. “The Government will explore
use of blockchain technology pro-actively
for ushering in digital economy,”
theministersaid.
Soon after the budget speech, Niti Aayog
CEO Amitabh Kant had tweeted about the
think tank’s plan to start implementing
governance projects on the national
blockchain, which according to reports will
beIndiaChain.
Last October, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology launched its pilot program with
111 graduates being given their diploma as
digital certificates developed by MIT and
Learning Machine on the blockchain that
can be secured and verified externally using
anapp.

The
Authentication
Forum
Mr. Anil Rajput
Vice President,
Corporate Affairs
ITC Ltd
& Chairman FICCI
CASCADE
Mr. Bakul Chandra
Joshi
Training &
Competency and
Brand Protection
Leader
FMC Corporation
Mr. Chandra Mohan
Gupta
Director, Corporate
Affairs
Coca Cola India
Dr. (Mrs) Jayashree
Gupta
President, Consumers
India & Chairperson,
Human Rights Group,
SUM & Former Add.
Secretary, Govt. of India
Mr. K K Gandhi
Executive Director
(Technical)
SIAM
EMINENT SPEAKERS
Mr. Prashant Behl
Associate Partner -
Fraud Investigation &
Dispute Services
Ernst & Young
Mr. Ranesh Bajaj
Managing Director
VINSAK & Consultant
Brand Protection
Dr. Sandeep S Panwar
CEO
Farinsys, and
Representative, Pesticide
Manufacturers'
Association of India
(PMFAI)
Mr. Saurav Mitra
Associate Vice-
President, Packaging
MYLAN Laboratories
Mr. Suresh Sati
Leading Anti-
Counterfeit Investigator
& Director
Vision Foundation
The 5W's of Counterfeiting: What, Who, When, Where, Why?
Hear Global perspectives on the fight against counterfeiting
Impactful methods to prevent brand infringement - Designing an effective Anti-Counterfeiting awareness campaign
Evolution of digital security solutions: Protecting supply chains
Advances in physical security solutions
The Right Fit: Designing a solution that works for you
Learn from case studies by Brand owner
What's Next? The future of Anti-Counterfeiting technologies
Effective intelligence gathering techniques to nab counterfeiters
Register online at www.authenticationforum2018.com or call +91-9650694818 / +91-124-4409361
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