Checkpoint Systems and Sealed Air Cryovac launch anti-theft tagging solution for food products

Checkpoint Systems and Sealed Air Cryovac launch anti-theft tagging solution for food products

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 global manufacturer of a wide range of food and protective packaging materials and systems, have launched an anti-theft tagging solution for food products. The solution targets frequently stolen products such as cheese. In particular, Cryovac is using the system to protect supplies of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano.


‘The Global Theft Barometer has highlighted an increased amount of theft of certain food products,’ noted Rob van der Merwe, president and CEO of Checkpoint Systems, Inc. ‘In Italy, for instance, Parmigiano Reggiano has a shrink rate of about 9 percent. The combination of the Checkpoint and Cryovac solution is a good example to combat grocery shrinkage.’


Checkpoint's collaboration with Sealed Air Cryovac in Italy began in early 2007. The companies initiated a label and source tagging program designed to protect food, such as meat and dairy products. Checkpoint's research and development laboratories produced the first RF-EAS Food-Safe label. The distinctive feature of the label is its conformity with European health and safety legislation to control the direct contact with fresh and dry foodstuffs; the label also meets all FDA guidelines for direct food contact. The label complies with Checkpoint's standards for deactivation and detection by EAS systems.


The Food-Safe label enables the fresh food sector to gain all the benefits of source tagging. These include time savings due to the elimination of manual label applications.


Sealed Air Cryovac then set up a manufacturing system to integrate Checkpoint's Food-Safe anti-theft label inside its Cryovac vacuum shrink bags. The integration makes it difficult to tamper with product packaging and defeat the anti-theft label.


The first tests were conducted with Parmigiano Reggiano in Italy for a six-month period to determine the effectiveness of Checkpoint's 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, the system is expected in the near future to be applied to other types of 'softer' cheeses and to packaged cold meats. These products represent a significant percentage of those displayed in supermarkets' refrigerated food cabinets. They are also significant in terms of both sales and inventory shrinkage. Initial studies have shown that this RF-EAS source tagging program may cut down inventory shrinkage of dairy products from 9 percent to 1 percent.


‘This 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 fulfill requirements of both major retailers and producers of foodstuffs that are difficult to preserve,’ said van der Merwe.