MidnightVoice
February 15th, 2004, 4:49:28 PM
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=040213000742
A gadget that could save the Scotch whisky industry hundreds of millions of pounds a year currently lost through counterfeiting was unveiled yesterday by Diageo, the world's biggest drinks group.
Billed as the world's first hand-held, ultra-violet spectrometer, the device, known as the authenticator, identifies counterfeit spirit.
Diageo, which developed the device with sAd, an optical design start-up company in Leeds, said counterfeiting is estimated to cost the industry up to £800m a year.
The £5,000 device could end the industry's current reliance on laboratory testing, which can take up to two weeks per sample.
The authenticator can be taken into bars and can test a whisky in seconds, matching a sample against the profile of any particular brand logged in its memory.
Testing and verification of whisky is complex since its required purity prevents manufacturers from introducing brand indicators. Most branded gins or vodkas contain indicators, usually sugars, which manufacturers can identify with a dipstick.
Diageo, which invested £100,000 in developing the device, said it had tested successfully in Colombia, Spain and Venezuela.
Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said the trade organisation was delighted with the new instrument.
A gadget that could save the Scotch whisky industry hundreds of millions of pounds a year currently lost through counterfeiting was unveiled yesterday by Diageo, the world's biggest drinks group.
Billed as the world's first hand-held, ultra-violet spectrometer, the device, known as the authenticator, identifies counterfeit spirit.
Diageo, which developed the device with sAd, an optical design start-up company in Leeds, said counterfeiting is estimated to cost the industry up to £800m a year.
The £5,000 device could end the industry's current reliance on laboratory testing, which can take up to two weeks per sample.
The authenticator can be taken into bars and can test a whisky in seconds, matching a sample against the profile of any particular brand logged in its memory.
Testing and verification of whisky is complex since its required purity prevents manufacturers from introducing brand indicators. Most branded gins or vodkas contain indicators, usually sugars, which manufacturers can identify with a dipstick.
Diageo, which invested £100,000 in developing the device, said it had tested successfully in Colombia, Spain and Venezuela.
Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said the trade organisation was delighted with the new instrument.