The project aims to deliver a turnkey, fully automated solution for the testing and quality control of labelling claims in consumer products and cosmetics. At present, major retailers of these products don’t have reliable robust solutions for the control of the claims made in the labels of these products and therefore have to rely on information provided by their wide network of suppliers. This generates the opportunity for fraud, which is a significant problem, costing the industry an estimated $8Bn annually.
The target market are major consumer goods and cosmetics retailers (Inditex, L’Oreal, Sephora, H&M, Unilever, etc.) and their global network of Contract Analytical Laboratories (1,200+ Worldwide, which are a combination of local or regional laboratories and of large corporate organisations such as SGS, TÜV SÜD, Bureau Veritas, and Underwriters Laboratory among others) which routinely test their products using other analytical technologies (such as LCMS or GCMS (Liquid Chromatography1, Gas Chromatography2) to identify trace level (low concentration) impurities which may be harmful or toxic to humans, but who have no analytical testing solution for a second major problem, fraud in the main components of the products (high concentration).
The project is socially important for several reasons:
• The estimated $8Bn cost to the industry of this fraud impacts the industry budgets for the R&D of improved products, reducing R&D employment.
• The estimated $8Bn cost of fraud to the industry reduces tax contributions, with its corresponding impact on public services.
• Fraudulent products can pose Health and Safety risk to consumers. Dosage and frequency of application may also be unreliable.
• Fraudulent products may negatively affect the brand and reputation of major retailers who have invested time and money in developing it.
• Cost of fraud control is increased for both consumer associations and governments.
The overall objective of the project is to develop an instrument that can be used by a network of Contract Analytical Laboratories used by the major retailers, and by Consumer Organisation and Government quality control laboratories, in order to monitor the truth in labelling and main characteristics of their products, to protect the reputation and brand image of the retailers, and the investment and health and safety of consumers. The instrument will take advantage of latest developments in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, with the development of small, room temperature, automatable and robust instruments which make this technique suitable for routine analysis in non-expert QC laboratories.
