If recent salmonella, e Coli, melamine and other food scares have you second-guessing your food chain, imagine what it may be like in some rural areas, where connectivity and information technology knowledge may be more limited.

A recent announcement states that "Researchers have presented a low cost track and trace and authentication system, which they believe could be implemented immediately, to combat counterfeiting in the developing world".

The full article is posted at:

http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Processing-QC/Phone-based-anti-counterfeiting-proposed-for-developing-world/

I chatted with Ghana's Bright Simons, an Ashoka Fellow (http://www.ashoka.org/bsimons) and the Coordinator of the mPedigree network (www.mpedigree.net), about this article, since it alludes to mPedigree. Bright noted that there are some misrepresentations in the article, but overall the mPedigree approach is to associate a tamper-evident seal with a unique ID (e.g. mass serialized identifier), which is a strategy that leads to copy-based attacks by would-be counterfeiters. A cloud-based network supporting the unique IDs (i.e. providing track and trace and provenance) will help to defend the system from copy attacks. Overall, the approach is elegant--low-cost to implement, free for the consumer, and potentially ubiquitous through its mobile on-ramp.

The appropriately-named Bright was also recently named to the Tech Awards Laureates 2009, "as one of 15 global innovators recognized each year for applying technology to benefit humanity and spark global change. The Tech Awards, a signature program of The Tech Museum, and presented by Applied Materials, Inc., selected mPedigree Network from among hundreds of nominations representing 66 countries."

"The Tech Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity (www.techawards.org) is one of the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world, recognizing technical solutions that benefit humanity and address the most critical issues facing our planet and its people. The awards program honors 15 scientists and innovators annually alongside the recipient of the Global Humanitarian Award. This year’s Laureates include Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States of America (Global Humanitarian Award)."

Protecting our food and our supply chains is more than just high-priority. It's award-winning.

Cheers,

Steve