The Hawaii Coffee Association (HCA) has reached an agreement with the Oritain company to build a statewide “origin fingerprint” database to verify the origins of coffee grown in Hawaii, according to a news release.
"This partnership will allow us to sample green and roasted coffee to prove its origin,” Chris Manfredi, HCA's executive director, said in a statement. “The effort will build Hawaii coffee traceability and integrity. It is designed to thwart counterfeiting and build marketability. It’s important to the industry and consumers to know where coffee is grown and, in the case of counterfeiting, where it is not grown."
Coffee counterfeiting, Manfredi said, "is the bane of Hawaii-grown coffee. It represents unfair competition to Hawaii’s growers. It undermines our pricing and the generations of growers who have contributed to the exceptional quality associated with Hawaii’s brands.”
The partnership will help improve trust and marketing of the in the coffee products, he said, adding, "Our Hawaii coffee industry is excited about this project and its possibilities for the future.”
Hawaiian coffee is "unrivaled" Oritain CEO Grant Cochrane said in a statement. "However, with such a strong reputation, brings a temptation to cheat by substituting coffee from other origins and labelling it as Hawaiian. This partnership marks a significant step in deterring this type of behavior by protecting the integrity and reputation of an important specialty crop.”
Oritain is a product traceability company that uses scientific testing that originated in the criminal forensic field to measure a product’s stable isotopes and trace elements to verify where it originated. The methodology has been peer reviewed in scientific journals during the past 20 years.
It identifies the statistics and runs numbers through its statistical models to produce an “origin fingerprint.” It then uses that to test subsequent samples as they move through the supply chain. Samples that are found inconsistent with the “origin fingerprint” were most likely adulterated.
A presentation by Oritain will be held 12:45 p.m. Saturday during the 2022 HCA conference at the Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa in Keauhou-Kona. There the company will outline the logistics of how this method will be applied and implemented for Hawaii coffee. There will also be a display at the conference’s trade show.
The full HCA conference is being held Thursday through Friday and offers a full lineup of educational opportunities and interactive workshops on cupping, roasting and field-grafting. For information or to register, visit https://hawaiicoffeeassoc.org/page-1771716.