The rise and rise of anti-counterfeit technology in food packaging is generating billions in revenue every year.

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According to a fresh report from Allied Market Research titled Global Anti-counterfeit Packaging (Food and Beverages) Market (Technology and Geography) - Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014-2020 worldwide revenues for anti-counterfeit packaging in the food and beverages sphere reached $26.4 billion (€24 billion, £17.2 billion) in 2014. Moreover, this figure is set to more than double by 2020, soaring to $62.5 billion - a CAGR of 16.1 per cent.
The main drivers behind the growing demand for anti-counterfeit products in the food and beverage sector include the higher health risk associated with products that are sub-standard, and the economic damage 'pretenders' are causing to established brands.
New technology has revolutionised packaging and enabled a more widespread take-up of anti-counterfeiting. Novel, multi-layered technologies for food and beverage protection have reduced the impact of financial damage to the manufacturer, further enhancing the adoption of anti-counterfeit packaging, while multi-purpose applications including product tracking and the identification of advanced tracking technologies has resulted in a surge of demand for barcode and RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies.
These technologies are now widely used in the premium food and beverage segments, but the high cost of tracking solutions still limits applications to local product tracking, even though counterfeiting crime is equally prevalent throughout the world.
Much counterfeiting practices in food and beverage products are observed on the Asian and European borders and the globalisation of the food trade has increased the risk of counterfeiting in the logistics process, particularly where premium brands are concerned.
The full report can be accessed here.