A novel solution for counterfeit prevention in the wine industry based on IoT, smart tags, and crowd-sourced information

Abstract

This paper describes a novel solution for counterfeit prevention and brand protection in the wine industry. The presented approach combines Internet of Things, Cloud, and Mobile technologies with the use of custom designed smart tags applied to each bottle of wine in order to provide food track and trace capabilities. The smart tags combine QR code with additional information printed with an invisible photochromatic ink. The tags are activated by flashlight on mobile devices during the scanning. Before scanning, users are prompted to select the context of the wine bottle (in store, sold, consumed) in order to provide additional information about each bottle as it moves through the supply chain. This information is used by the custom-made heuristic to help users and wine makers detect issues with individual instances of the product. The system was implemented as a pilot project that was executed during a period of 6 months. End users showed a great interest in the possibility to implement such a system, consumers liked the interaction with the product using the mobile app and smart tags, while wine makers expressed their interest in the solution. Besides counterfeit that affects profit, the benefits of such systems include improved brand protection and reduced risk of health hazards.