CSIRO launches food verification tool

CSIRO has developed a platform to help verify Australia’s food product claims and green credentials, with a view to bolstering the nation’s reputation for high-quality, safe and sustainably produced food.

The new platform, Isotopes.au, provides a national resource of isotopic data — food’s unique fingerprint — consolidated from Australia’s leading research agencies. Isotopic data can be used to identify where key food commodities were grown, as well as the amount of water or carbon emissions that were part of production.

CSIRO’s single, open-access and trusted resource can be used by regulators and industry to verify a food’s provenance and sustainability claims, as well as to ensure compliance with trade regulations.

CSIRO lead scientist Dr Nina Welti said Isotopes.au could also underpin the development of sustainability standards for Australia’s $80 billion agriculture and food export industry.

“Customers increasingly want to know where and how their food was sourced so they can make ethical and more sustainable choices,” Welti said.

“Isotopes are unique chemical ‘fingerprints’ that imprint clues of a product’s origin, as well as the inputs that went into production, and environmental factors like soil nutrients and groundwater flows,” she explained.

“This is just the beginning of capturing Australia’s wealth of isotopic data into one place —Isotopes.au — to help industries demonstrate how they’re meeting environmental targets for greater transparency with trading partners and consumers.”

There are plans for the platform to be expanded to include more data, beyond land-based measurements. For example, additional applications are being developed to track marine products through the supply chain, benefiting the fisheries and aquaculture industry.

Kyaw Kyaw Soe Hlaing, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation General Manager for ICT and Digitalisation, said data is key to maintaining sustainable practices, reducing carbon emissions and responding to increasing competition for marine space.

“We use isotopes to answer questions about fish movements and food web dynamics,” Soe Hlaing said.

“Isotopes.au is a powerful tool that complements our ARDC-supported research infrastructure project, which is looking to liberate key sources of fisheries and aquaculture data.”

Isotopes.au aligns with industry goals to consolidate data for more trusted supply chains, and aligns with the National Agricultural Traceability Strategy. It could also support the development of food circularity in production systems by underpinning safety standards for food reuse.

The resource complements a suite of CSIRO research and innovations aimed at growing the value of Australia’s agrifood exports, including a digital ecosystem to boost food safety and new tools to simplify and manage pest risks.

Isotopes.au was developed by CSIRO in partnership with Geoscience Australia, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the National Measurement Institute, with co-investment from the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC).

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