Oritain provides cotton industry with compelling traceability solution

Date:09-14-2017


Following months of technical development, Oritain Global Limited is proud to announce significant international partnerships with two of the world’s largest cotton growers - the J.G. Boswell Company in the U.S. and its subsidiary, Auscott Limited of Australia.

The J.G. Boswell Company is one of America’s largest agricultural producers and the largest U.S. grower of luxurious Supima cotton. Auscott Ltd is one of Australia’s largest farmers and ginners of high-quality Upland cotton.

To complete its end-to-end supply chain solution, Oritain Global Limited has also secured an agreement with Welspun India Ltd for its home textile products.

Using Oritain’s technology, the claimed origin of a sample of cotton can be scientifically verified which offers reassurance for brand owners and retailers alike. Oritain’s service is based on over 30 years of proven science, and is already used commercially across a range of food, fibre and pharmaceutical products around the world.

Auscott Marketing Manager for Cotton, Arthur Spellson, who led the company’s search for an effective traceability solution, says the key advantage of Oritain’s service is that it is a true ‘product test’.

“The distinct advantage of the Oritain technology is they test the actual fibre and don’t use any sprays, tags or barcodes. This makes it a true product test and also means from an operational point of view it a very easy solution to adopt for our business,” he says.

Oritain CEO Grant Cochrane says the scientific solution Oritain offers will go a long way to address the traceability challenges that have been faced by the cotton industry in recent years.

“Manufacturers, brand owners and retailers are increasingly focused on ensuring there is transparency within their supply chains. A huge part of this is knowing - and trusting - where their product comes from. This is of particular importance as brands make claims associated with provenance and want to be reassured their product – in this case, cotton - isn’t coming from undesirable sources.

“We have used scientific analysis to create a unique ‘fingerprint’ from the cotton samples that have been supplied from California (J.G. Boswell Company) and Australia (Auscott Limited),” says Cochrane. “The intention is to add samples from other origins around the world - like Egypt - to our database,” he says.

“This fingerprint analysis identifies the different levels of chemical attributes that are found within the product itself, and enables us to verify the cotton against its claimed origin. Using this method, you can test cotton at the various stages of the supply chain and verify its origin,” says Cochrane.

Arthur Spellson says the hunt for a solution was very much customer-driven. “It’s no secret that the global industry has had problems with traceability. Our customers were asking for reassurance. They want to be able to make ‘Australian Cotton’ claims and have absolute confidence to do that. We believe that the brands that use our cotton can now have that confidence,” he says.

About Oritain

Oritain is a global leader in using forensic science to determine food, fibre and pharmaceutical provenance. It exists to protect the reputations of its customers by identifying and mitigating well-known risks in the supply chain. Customers include GE Healthcare, ThermoFisher Scientific, Compass Food Group (UK), Wools of New Zealand and others.

The Oritain difference is that they trace the actual products, not packaging or labels. Packaging has proven unreliable and is very susceptible to counterfeiting. By testing actual products, Oritain can offer a robust solution for businesses. The method is underpinned by over 30 years of scientific literature and is widely accepted around the world.

Oritain is a private company with offices in Dunedin, London and Sydney. It has close ties to the University of Otago, and boasts leaders in the fields of chemistry and statistics who ensure delivery of innovative, effective and robust solutions.

Founded in 2008, Oritain works with some of the world’s leading businesses to protect their brands from fraud in markets all around the world.