Counterfeit consumer goods are on the rise globally. The situation is extraordinarily alarming in the case of pharmaceutical products, 10% of all pharmaceuticals sold world-wide are counterfeits or of substandard quality, reaching 30% in developing countries. We developed multifunctional biodegradable hydrogel microparticles as taggants for food and pharmaceutical products. The microparticles provide simultaneous information on the product authenticity and safety directly prior to consumption. The authenticity information is embedded in the microparticle topography as a binary code. The product safety of liquid products—the presence of the pathogens and the potential product deterioration due to improper storage—is reported through the sensors embedded in the microparticle structure. The authenticity code and the sensor information are acquired with a standard bright-field/fluorescent microscope or even low-cost microscopic smartphone addon.
Figure: Microbarcodes, composed from biodegradable hydrogel, placed on various pharmaceutical products