TRACEABILITY #2

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NEWSLETTER #14 : TRACEABILITY #2

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Physical traceability

Previously we explored how digital traceability and blockchain solutions can help accelerate the mapping of value chains.

These extraordinary data-carrying/sharing tools are most effective when the data is irrefutable. And the further back we retrace the production process, the greater the risk of inaccuracy or falsification. So, is it truly possible to authenticate a raw material with certainty?

A system under strain

The math is both simple and shocking: the amount of organic cotton sold is more than the amount produced.

Following years of suspected false certificates, an investigation by the Global Organic Textile Standard in India in 2020 uncovered 20,000 tons of cotton that did not meet organic criteria. Due to constantly rising demand, limited supplies and unreliable paper certificates, flaws in the system led to a proliferation of fraud.

Certificates bearing QR codes linked to a fake official website claimed to be authentic. Though in this example the material happened to be organic cotton, a similar situation has been found in recycled materials, which, though certified, are not always completely free of the risk of falsification.

While certificate-based verifications can take steps to improve their transactional and on-site control methods, is there a way to add a security step that entails the physical authentication of the material?

Rigorous traceability

Today, this information can be found at the heart of a material. For the past several years a growing number of methods have been introduced to attest to a material’s origins, or specific quality, not by monitoring its identity documents but rather by examining the constitution of the material itself.

There are 2 main categories in this kind of verification: scientific analysis and additive markers.

Read and discover more about physical traceability here !

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