Developing Edible Barcodes from Laser Cutting Biodegradable Materials

Abstract

The counterfeiting of food and pharmaceutical products is slowly becoming a very dangerous threat for the global healthcare. In developing countries 10% of the medicines in circulation are already counterfeit. Current anticounterfeiting methods do not offer the right protection for the customers. Most of the anticounterfeiting methods are on the outside packaging, where they can be easily counterfeited or replaced. Furthermore, research has already shown that new anticounterfeiting methods are possible. These new methods are no longer on the outside packaging but on or in the product. Although these new anticounterfeiting methods show promising results, they have difficulty complying to the strict rules of regulatory organisations. This research focuses on developing edible barcodes by laser cutting different biodegradable/food grade materials. Besides the laser cutting this research also focuses on the formation and the properties of glycerol-alginate sheets. These sheets are made by mixing the glycerol and alginate under high temperature. After the sheets are produced, they are put in contact with water and their behaviour is observed. Overall, this research provides an insight that it is possible to develop such barcodes from laser cutting biodegradable/food grade materials, although much research on glycerol-alginate sheets still needs to be done.