Australian Wine Industry Battles Fakes With Smart Bottle Caps
The Australian Wine Industry has had enough of counterfeits which are weighing in at an estimated cost of $70 billion. Bottle caps with NFC and an application to read the value to verify that the bottle is authentic.
Australian wines have long been sought after on international shelves, renowned for their bold flavours and global appeal.
But recent reports of counterfeit Australian wines circulating overseas are sparking new fears that one of our nation's most valuable exports is under threat - with a growing underground market of fake bottles waiting to cash in.
It's estimated that counterfeit wine affects up to 20 per cent of the global $350 billion wine industry, ripping off up to $70 billion a year.
And the trade is becoming more sophisticated than just crude label forgery, replicating bottles and even serial numbers with extreme accuracy.
Now, the industry is turning to technology to fight back through the use of smart" bottle tops.
Perth company Cellr has developed a product to combat the fake wine market, with technology built directly into bottles.
The caps include Near Field Communication (NFC) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips that can be scanned using an accompanying app.
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