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Counterfeit wine is a 70 billion dollar industry: Fighting it with new technology - C C - Mar 16, 2020

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-10/cellr-targets-global-counterfeit-wine-industry/12039318?section=business

EXCERPT: If you think you know what wine you're drinking, you could be wrong — and that fancy bottle of red could be contributing to a trade that rips $70 billion a year from the global wine industry.

Key points:

• Counterfeit wine can involve replacing the liquid or faking labels
• It has become a global problem, particularly for premium wine
• A Perth company is now using technology to fight back

According to estimates, counterfeit wine affects up to 20 per cent of the global $350 billion wine industry. Now the industry is turning to technology to fight back, in the form of "smart" bottle tops. Perth company Cellr is offering a product to tackle the fake wine market, with the technology integrated directly into the bottles.

The caps contain Near Field Communication (NFC) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips, which can be scanned by an accompanied mobile application. The application then instantly confirms the product's provenance, producer and, optionally, brand or promotional messaging.

[...] Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash said the technology had the potential to be game changing. "This is a global issue, counterfeiting wine," she said. "And to have an Australian start-up literally invent what is going to, I hope, become a global solution is absolutely outstanding."

[...] Co-founder Chris Braine said ... "The solution needs to be embedded in the bottling process and not something that's cosmetic. ... Mr Braine said the types of counterfeit wine operations varied around the world, with examples ranging from refilling bottles to manufacturing fake labels. (MORE - details)

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