Checkpoint Systems, a manufacturer and marketer of identification, tracking, security and merchandising solutions to the retail industry and its supply chain, and Sealed Air Cryovac, a manufacturer of a range of food and protective packaging materials and systems, have announced the launch of an anti-theft tagging solution for food products.
The combination of Checkpoint Food-Safe EAS labels, certified for direct contact with food, and Sealed Air Cryovacโs SmartPak vacuum shrink bags will allow retailers to reduce the inventory shrinkage of cheese and fresh products and initial studies have shown that this RF-EAS source-tagging programme may cut down inventory shrinkage of dairy products from 9 percent to 1 percent. In particular, Cryovac is using the system to protect supplies of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano.
โThe Global Theft Barometer has highlighted an increased amount of theft of certain food products,โ says Rob van der Merwe, President and CEO of Checkpoint Systems, Inc. โIn Italy, for instance, Parmigiano Reggiano has a shrink rate of about 9 per cent. The combination of the Checkpoint and Cryovac solution is a good example to combat grocery shrinkage.โ
The collaboration with Sealed Air Cryovac in Italy began in 2007. The companies initiated a label and source-tagging programme designed to protect food, such as meat and dairy products. Checkpointโs research and development laboratories produced the first RF-EAS Food-Safe label; the only label to-date that has received European authorisation and ISEGA certification, for direct contact with dry, moist and fatty food products. The feature of the label is its conformity with European health and safety legislation to control the direct contact with fresh and dry foodstuffs.
Sealed Air Cryovac, known for the continuous technological research that has made the company a global leader in packaging, then set up a manufacturing system to integrate Checkpointโs Food-Safe anti-theft label inside its Cryovac vacuum shrink bags. The firms say that this integration makes it difficult to tamper with product packaging and defeat the anti-theft label. Initial tests were conducted on Parmigiano Reggiano in Italy for a six-month period to determine the effectiveness of Checkpointโs label source tagged and integrated into Cryovac vacuum shrink bags. The first market request to Sealed Air Cryovac was for two million packs for the protection of Parmigiano Reggiano alone, however, it is expected that the system will be applied to other types of โsofterโ cheeses and packaged cold meats as these products represent a significant percentage of those displayed in supermarketsโ refrigerated food cabinets and are also important in terms of sales and inventory shrinkage.
โThis integrated solution for the source tagging of food products that we have developed with Cryovac puts Checkpoint on the cutting-edge of source tagging solutions to fulfil the requirements of both major retailers and producers of foodstuffs that are difficult to preserve,โ adds van der Merwe.
โSealed Air Cryovac is a solutions provider offering value added products and systems to the entire food supply chain. With the RF technology provided by Checkpoint, we are able to help our customers and retailers to further improve their bottom lines by reducing the in-store theft of items such as Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. There are more opportunities with this technology in the fresh food segment,โ says Gerd Wichmann, Marketing Director EMEA, Cryovac Packaging.
