Close×

A new carbon-based marking, tracing and validation technology developed by Dotz, that it says is virtually impossible to reverse-engineer, has been successfully tested in China.

Dotz, an Australian-listed tech company based in Israel, has developed ValiDotz security markers, which it bills as non-toxic markers that can be easily mixed into plastics, coatings, inks, and varnishes. The company also provides pocket-sized Inspec detectors to authenticate them.

According to Uzi Breier, CEO of Dotz, ValiDotz are resistant to temperature and shear force; can be inserted directly into polymers; feature multiple levels of security; and do not affect tagged products’ properties or appearance. They also require only low concentrations and feature multiple encoding combinations that can be changed if needed, he said.

“The Dotz end-to-end anti-counterfeiting technology is helping manufacturers protect their brands against the global US$2.2 trillion black market. Our taggants are virtually impossible for counterfeiters to reverse-engineer and can be easily adopted and customised for multiple applications,” said Breier.

In an industrial pilot on cigarette boxes in Shenzhen, China, ValiDotz were integrated into the customer’s ink system, which was followed by large-scale print runs on several substrates. The markers were then detected clearly at both covert and semi-forensic levels.

ValiDotz have also been tested in several polymer industry applications, and sold to European, American, and Asian clients.

Food & Drink Business

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has released its Towards 2030: A food and grocery snapshot, an assessment of the food and grocery manufacturing sector following the Sustaining Australia: Food and Grocery Manufacturing 2030 report released in 2020.

The federal government has granted $1.5 million to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), to strengthen food safety and alcohol surveillance in Laos, following the methanol poisoning deaths of two Australian citizens in November 2024.

Woolworths Group delivered a stronger first-half underlying earnings result, with group sales up 3.4 per cent to $37.1 billion and EBIT up 14.4 per cent to $1.66 billion for the 27 weeks to 4 January 2026.