The case for tamper-evident packaging

Packaging is critical to food, for keeping food fresh as well as safe to eat. Packaging security is just as important as it prevents everything from consumer tampering to bioterrorism to product counterfeiting.

Tampering involves the intentional altering of information, a product, a package or a system.

Tamper-evident packaging has an indicator or barrier to entry which, if breached or missing, can reasonably be expected to provide visible or audible evidence to consumers that tampering has occurred.

Tamper-evident solutions may involve all phases of product production, distribution, logistics, sale and use. No single solution can be considered as ‘tamper proof’. Most times many levels of security need to be considered to minimise the risk of tampering. Some considerations are:

• Identify all feasible methods of unauthorised access into a product or package. In addition to the primary means of entry, also consider secondary or ‘back door’ methods.
• Identify the type of tampering, what level of knowledge, materials or equipment.
• Improve the tamper resistance by making tampering more difficult.
• Add tamper-evident features to help indicate the existence of tampering.
• Educate consumers to be aware of tampering.
• Ensure that the window of opportunity to tamper is minimised.

A fundamental reason to incorporate security features into packaging is to provide protection against vindictive tampering, or at least evidence of an attempt.

Threats of tampered baby food have already been used by extortionists several times. Great Britain faced its worst case of food tampering in 1989, when slivers of glass, razor blades, pins and caustic soda were found in products of two baby food manufacturers — H.J. Heinz and Cow & Gate. The scare began with a blackmailer trying to extort $1.7 million from Heinz and then escalated as copycats capitalised on the initial report.

Tamper-evident packaging was seen to have the potential to overcome the public concern about purchasing deliberately contaminated product. Jars of food items soon started appearing with a metal bubble-top lid, commonly known as a ‘safety button’, which popped out if the jar had been opened and stayed flat if the jar was not ever opened. Customers were advised not to buy a product with a popped lid.

Newer jars of food tend to come with a plastic shrink-sleeve on the edge of the lid, which is removed when opening.

The Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis of 1982 involved over-the-counter medications. Due to various regulations, many manufacturers of food (and medicine) now use induction sealing to assist in providing evidence of tampering. Packaging that tears open in a ragged manner or otherwise cannot be resealed is also used to help indicate tampering.

In many cases, multiple layers or indicators are used because no single layer or device is tamper-proof. Consideration should be given to unique indicators (which are to be changed regularly to avoid counterfeiting).

End users and consumers need to be educated to keep an eye open for signs of tampering, both at the primary and secondary level of packaging.

Track and trace

Processors and their suppliers are developing a variety of packaging technologies to keep food safe from such interference and to provide fast, thorough product tracking and tracing in the event of a recall.

Covert and overt packaging techniques are developing more and more and becoming substantially more sophisticated. Covert techniques require a scanner or other device for detection. Marking packages with invisible, ultraviolet-luminescent ink is an example of covert security. Overt refers to something visible on the package, such as a batch code or tamper-evident band.

RFID tags as a form of tamper evidence

The radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags consist of a tamper-evident technology to ensure that the RFID tag has not been interfered with after initial positioning on an article. These tags, if tampered with, become disabled, thereby preventing use of the tags on counterfeit or substitute products, and ensuring that detecting a working tag also means identifying the original product to which it is attached. As food and beverage companies increasingly experiment with RFID to satisfy retailer demands, they are enjoying the side benefit of greater control of cases and pallets moving through the supply chain. The heightened control increases the security of products during distribution.

The time has come for tamper-evident packaging to be de rigueur on all products that are eaten, inhaled, absorbed into the blood stream or touch the body.

Image: Blister packs — just one tamper-evident package style. Image credit: ©FreeImages.com/Martin Walls