Traceability Application
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, recalls in the food industry cost approximately $29 million per occurrence. To help mitigate the impact of these recalls, MCC and Digimarc have co-developed a hybrid printing method in which Digimarc Barcode can be printed in large volumes.
Plastic clamshells containing berries, for example, can be serialized with a Digimarc-enhanced label produced by MCC's hybrid printing process. Quality control procedures ensure Digimarc is scannable throughout the supply chain. And when consumer brands combine serialized products with an IoT management platform, individual packages can easily be traced back to their origin at a specific farm, as well as across the entire supply chain.
"Traceability is essential for consumer brands and food manufacturers to promote consumer safety, mitigate risk and gain real-time insight into raw materials and product locations in farms, warehouses, logistics and distribution centers," said Matthew Thomas, Business Development Manager, MCC. "MCC's rich expertise in the area of digital and hybrid printing brings Digimarc's serialized identities to life and at scale. It's a partnership that is perfectly positioned to impact the food supply chain of today and the future."
Plastic Sorting Application
In addition to using serialized Digimarc Barcode, MCC Verstraete IML is working with Orkla to introduce Digimarc's digital watermarking identities into packaging for one of its product lines. The interactive IML (Injection Moulding Labels) with Digimarc, can enable accurate and reliable scanning, to improve plastic sorting, and return more plastics back into the recovery stream.
"With Digimarc digital watermarking, we can alter how people view waste. For example, when a bottle is empty, it becomes unwanted—something to be discarded. Now imagine if, instead of just throwing this away, the consumer could scan the bottle with their smartphone and be shown new possibilities," said Pavel Komurka, Packaging Innovation and Sustainability Coordinator, Orkla. "We could present ideas and provide examples, from reuse options to new products created at the end of a recycling stream. With Digimarc, we're able to explore an exciting new world of opportunities."
"Our partnership with MCC provides a tangible way for consumer brands to get started on their traceability and recycling initiatives," said Scott Wilcox, VP, Client Services, Digimarc. "By partnering with the intelligent labeling experts at MCC and MCC Verstraete IML, we can improve sortation and the re-use of plastic materials, an issue of paramount importance to the world we all share. Our solution starts with the action of the consumer and extends into better identification in material recovery facilities, eliminating more of the waste that ends up in our environment."
Original White Paper
MCC published an original white paper, "Intelligent Food Labelling," that highlights the challenge of food safety, outlines the benefits of Digimarc Barcode and details how MCC is working with Orkla to support its sustainability goals. MCC also recently held a webinar on the same topic with panelists Matthew Thomas, Business Development Manager at MCC Label, Jay Sperry, Platform Evangelist at Digimarc and Nico Van de Walle, Product & Circular Economy Manager at MCC Verstraete.
(Source: PR Newswire)
www.digimarc.com www.mcclabel.com
