Applied DNA Sciences and and TruTrace Technologies team up to tag, test, and track cannabis products from seed to sale.

Stephanie Neil |May 10th, 2021

Tracking cannabis from the farm to the dispensary is important to the safety of the entire marketplace. How to do it, however, has left many supply chain experts dazed and confused. But Applied DNA Sciences, a company that creates molecular tagging technology for supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting, and anti-theft technology, has an answer—at least a portion of it.

The company’s molecular technology has been used in textile, pharmaceutical, fertilizer, and personal care products, as well as military applications. The company has two core competencies, one focused on large scale linear DNA production for diagnostics and vaccines, and the other focused on supply chain authentication. Its LinearDNA Biopharmaceutical system uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to deliver highly purified DNA, without the complications of plasmids, which is for use in cell therapies, vaccines, diagnostics, and gene therapies.  On the supply chain side, Applied DNA has developed a platform, called CertainT, that provides manufacturers with marketplace integrity through its three pillar approach of tag, test, and track.

According to company officials, in 2017 they started testing CertainT with cannabis products. The process starts with a unique molecular tag that can be applied to the flower or hemp via fog or electrostatic spray, and added to the formulation of oils, tinctures, tablets, or lotions. It can also be applied to labels and packaging. The tag serves as a definitive indicator of authenticity, origin and provenance.