The seal, known as CapSeal, is now entering the third generation, and has been equipped with special security features by Bayer, including an individual QR code. This allows users to quickly check the authenticity of products bearing the seal.
The user simply scans the QR code printed on the seal with the app provided by Bayer, which quickly compares it with an online database and reports whether it is authentic. If the QR code can’t be identified without a doubt, the product is likely a counterfeit, and the app immediately offers the customer the chance to contact a Bayer employee.
In the future, all pesticides produced by Bayer in Europe will be equipped with the new seal. The accompanying authenticity testing app is already available free of cost in various languages on the CapSeal website.
The new counterfeit protection represents Bayer’s response to the notable trade in fake pesticides. In 2014, investigators at Hamburg Harbour alone confiscated some 200 tonnes of counterfeit pesticides (we reported). According to a study of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission, the percentage of counterfeit pesticides in the EU already lies at around 10%.
