This creates critical challenges for business to protect brand reputations and achieve sustainability. Digitisation and traceability are increasingly becoming indispensable to enable businesses to diversify and grow while minimising cost and threats of adulteration, counterfeiting and diversion.
At Beston Technologies (BT), a wholly owned (ASX listed) Beston Global Foods (BFC) subsidiary “grow out” company, our goal has been to reduce risk within Australian Agri-food and beverage businesses through smart technologies. We deliver a customised and integrated IT suite to minimise fraud of high value food and human health risk goods. The developed platform—OZIRIS™ suite—yields simultaneous Verification + Authenticity + Provenance outcomes in a cost effective and real time in field manner.
BFC was established to bring the best of Australian green and healthy foods to Asia and in so doing promote Australia’s safe Agri–food reputation to the expanding middle class buyers. BT was created in 2015 to leverage new technologies to support the reputation of BFC’s expanding dairy, beef, and, nutraceutical goods exports. Technology was required to enable claims such as “True To Origin”, “green and sustainably sourced” healthy, unadulterated – to be strictly supported. Commencing with simple OZIRIS™ QR codes, Beston Marketplace (e-commerce platform in Australia and China), Brandlok (track and trace software), has evolved to supporting cloud based unique item biological fingerprinting using optical scanning, AI (Machine learning) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
Given external demand from associated businesses, BT has established a Software as a Service (SaaS) to offer broader support to the food and beverage industries beyond BFC. It is partnering and exploring future opportunities in the domestic Aquaculture, Olive oil, Wine, Meat, Nutraceutical, Farm sustainability segments amongst others. It has also partnered with The University of Adelaide (UOA) in photonics, and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in AI and software engineering to ensure its access to technical advances and evolved applications. In the process of the above, BT has attracted over $1.2M in grant funding.
What sets BT apart?
BT uses a modern cloud-based infrastructure for its flexibility and accessibility, making it more appealing to potential customers. BT has also made all its services available on mobile to enable data collection and access in real-time in a ubiquitous way. Real time data tracking provides valuable insights and performance management in time constrained and budget focused businesses. Priority changes on the basis of data can be made. Integration with other software provides savings. Integrating the traceability software with other systems that are commonly used in supply chain management, such as inventory management systems, can increase the value of the software and make it more appealing to potential customers.
BT works with a range of industry partners from different sectors to develop customized solutions while providing training and support to clients for an optimal user experience. Product and service offering as a SaaS integrated or modular platform Sure scan NIR ™— in field real time hand held device, providing instantaneous product verification through in cloud Machine learning.
Sure scan Raman ™ —a broader spectrum identifier for spectral assurance of product quality, particular useful for conveyor belt scanning and inventory accountability.
Sure ID ™ —enabled by Oziris™ packaging verification, Track and Trace through invisible barcode, and GS1 2d and Data Matrix barcoding for product identification.
Sure Trace™ —enabled by supply chain traceability on OZIRIS backend, Digital Twining on DLT, and DLT based verification. The use of DLT provides a single-source-of-truth for all partners along the supply chain and end consumers.
Sure Smart – Pay ™—a DLT based escrow payment mechanism. We use ERC20 tokens to represent payments on the DLT, bypassing cryptocurrencies while ensuring full compliance to government regulations.
Other
Data management services: offering data management services to help businesses store, analyse, and interpret their traceability data.
Integration services: the company may provide integration services to help businesses integrate the traceability software with other systems and processes they use in their supply chain management.
Training and support: support to help customers get the most out of their software. This can include online resources, in-person training, and technical support.
Why is BT a leader or pioneer in the Agri-food industry?
We listen. BT is serious about “growing” its own, and clients insights in jointly creating better sustainable food and beverage footprints. We recognise and act on consumers need to be better informed and reassured of the efficacy of a Brand, while seeking to better add knowledge into supply chains.
BT’s traceability solutions guarantee food provenance, authenticity, supporting brand owners in building and maintaining brand reputation. By leveraging cutting edge technologies such as NIR, Raman, and DLT, BT stays ahead of the curve and continues to provide innovative solutions to its clients.
As an example Food safety is a top priority for many food processing company. Real time identification of “fake” goods backed up by real time food recall processes “in the cloud”, have identified real time and cost savings.
In response to the increasingly strict requirements on emission reporting, BT is trialling out new practices to reduce emission from dairy cows on its supplier farms, and are developing DLT-based software to support the tracking of emission reduction activities, and feed provenance. This will compliment ESG accounting and compliance regulation requirements.
Enhanced data visualization and analysis capabilities back up the solution ware, making it easier for decision making.
In addition, BT focuses on building strong partnerships with leading food companies, industry associations, and government organizations. This enables BT to better understand client needs and establish itself as a thought leader in the food industry.
BT’s platform is being applied to high value Brand assurance projects. These include: Halal meat verification – collaborating with a Singaporean Halal food importer and Halal certifier, the OZIRIS™ platform is enabling provenance and traceability from meat source to customer, and certification satisfying regulations and cultural practices. This will assist future pull through of value-added meat products from Beston Provincial food group (PFG) in Shepparton.
Lactoferrin (Lf) exports – a high value milk extract (providing as a dry mix ingredient in infant formulae – essential health immunity in the young) created at Beston’s Jervois dairy factory is able to be traced from source to overseas customers use. Specifically, a high verification of purity can be certified, and automated payments enabled to satisfy quality health and commercial transaction needs.
Carbon abatement – the traceability and verification of enteric methane reduction from the feeding of proven supplementary feed ingredients to dairy cows, is enabled. Current projects with the State Government of South Australia (PIRSA) are validating increases in farm Returns on Investment (ROI). Beston will be able to prove support to its growing number of dairy farm suppliers in this manner to potentially boost income and assist them is managing their ESG regulations and compliances needs.
BT is an Adelaide Headquartered business team of accomplished Senior Management, Computer scientists and Artificial intelligence personnel. Deep links with world leading experts within the University of Adelaide (Centre for Photonics and Remote Sensing, Lot 14 – IT Innovation Centre) and the University of Technology Sydney Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Division) support growth initiatives.
Vision for the Future
BT is looking to continue using technologies to bring provenance, transparency, intelligence, and security to supply chains. BT will incorporate more advanced data analysis capabilities in their software offering and increase its adoption of DLT for end-to-end traceability and smarter commercial transactions.
At the same time, with increasing consumer demand for environmentally and socially responsible products, BT will place greater emphasis on sustainability, making sure the developed solutions are fully compliant to government regulatory and industry standards and can assist clients with emission reporting requirements.
