STONY BROOK, NY, June 16, 2015 – Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology, supply chain and product authentication solutions, has signed an agreement with Louis Dreyfus Commodities, one of the world’s largest cotton merchandisers, to provide secure logistic supply chain support for the tagging and authentication of cotton fibers with SigNature® T DNA derived from botanical genomes.
Rodger Glaspey, Head of Western US operations for cotton at Louis Dreyfus Commodities, stated, “This unique partnership within the supply chain will help ensure that the consumer gets exactly what the label says: the finest cotton grown in the world today, 100% Pima Cotton grown in America.”
Using APDN’s patented SigNature T DNA technology, cotton fibers can be DNA-tagged at the source or country of origin, allowing purity of content verification at all stages of the supply chain. Bulk quantities of last year’s Pima harvest have already been processed using this method and are currently being verified throughout the supply chain, from the ginner, to the spinner and ultimately to the manufacturer. This year’s SigNature T tagging will begin at the start of the ginning season, at various locations in the United States.
Louis Dreyfus Commodities will collect the DNA-marking fees from its customers and pay them to APDN. It will also pay APDN to install their unique, patent-pending “DNA Application Systems” at each new gin, typically capable of DNA marking up to 50 million pounds of cotton per season. The DNA Application System measures the botanical DNA so that a constant level of DNA marking per pound of cotton is provided at extraordinarily low levels.
Dr. James A. Hayward, President and CEO of Applied DNA Sciences, commented: “We successfully installed SigNature T DNA Application systems here in the US, and will continue to implement them at other locations. The ‘traceability’ factor is the most compelling benefit that we offer because if it’s DNA-tagged we can tell you exactly where, when, by whom and how it was tagged.”
In tandem with DNA tagging, APDN will license its “On-Site™” DNA authentication technology to provide real time testing of raw cotton fiber and greige goods, yielding an end-to-end supply chain solution to guarantee quality and support product claims. The licenses will be offered to supply chain members at every point at which the DNA-marked cotton changes hands.
Facilitated by Louis Dreyfus Commodities, APDN and their recently announced partnership with Divatex Home Fashions, the SigNature T DNA tagged cotton fibers will provide customers with the ultimate end-to-end traceable solution.
Brand owners and retailers who comply with SigNature T marking and authentication for Pima cotton will be offered use of the “PimaCott™ Content Brand”, co-licensed by Divatex and APDN.
“Consumer interest in product traceability is growing rapidly. The ‘farm to table’ movement is a testament to the success that comes from being able to verify products at their source. Consumers of textiles and apparel support the philosophy because they are buying products that can help the local community, and know that the product is 100% pure. That is the power of PimaCott – it’s about paying it forward from the grower directly to the consumer. Everyone wins because, for the first time, there is a real solution to verify quality and authenticity,” said David Greenstein, CEO of Divatex.
The partners have already lined up their first customers and secured demand for over 20 million pounds of DNA-marked Pima cotton from multiple customers for the coming cotton-ginning season (September to January).
About Louis Dreyfus Commodities
Louis Dreyfus Commodities is a global merchandizer of commodities and processor of agricultural goods, operating a significant network of assets around the world. With annual revenues of $63.6 billion, the company helps to feed and clothe some 500 million people, originating, processing and transporting approximately 80 million tons of commodities annually. Today, Louis Dreyfus Commodities ranks as one of the largest cotton merchandising organizations in the world.
About Applied DNA Sciences
We make life real and safe by providing botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature® DNA describes the platform ingredient that is at the heart of all of our security and authentication solutions. SigNature DNA is at the core of a family of uncopyable products such as DNAnet®, our anti-theft product, SigNature® T, targeted toward textiles, and digitalDNA®, providing powerful track and trace. All provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators. Applied DNA Sciences common stock is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and its warrants are listed under the symbol APDNW.
Forward-Looking Statement
The statements made by APDN in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe APDN’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 15, 2014, as amended on March 6, 2015, and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed February 9, 2015 and May 11, 2015, which are available at www.sec.gov. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.
investor contact: Debbie Bailey, 631-240-8817, debbie.bailey@adnas.com
media contact: Enrique Briz, Dian Griesel Int’l., 212-825-3210, ebriz@dgicomm.com
program contacts: MeiLin Wan, 631-240-8849, meilin.wan@adnas.com
Rodger Glaspey, 559-448-1803, rodger.glaspey@ldcom.com
David Greenstein, 212-252-0802, dgreenstein@divatex.com
web: www.adnas.com
twitter: @APDN
