Anti-counterfeit stamping for Dalat potatoes

Anti-counterfeit stamping for Dalat potatoes has been

Lam Dong Provincial People’s Committee has approved a pilot project to promote dalat potato brand against Chinese potatoes believed to be of Dalat.

Dalat potatoes have two types of yellow skin and pink skin

Chinese potatoes:

• evenly sized while Dalat potatoes are less uniform
• thick shell
• on the shell there are tiny dots
• big eye
• thin shell so it is easy to scratch

With yellow potatoes, Chinese potatoes have a slightly yellowish white intestine, while dalat potato intestines are yellow.

Dalat pink potatoes are moderately tuberous, oval or round in contrast to large and long Chinese potatoes.

When cut in half, Dalat potatoes are dry, without water and without sticky hands.

If the potato cutting layer is high in water, wet, it is Chinese potatoes.

Lam Dong province is promoting dalat potato brand.

The experimental project, managed by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, includes potato market surveys and production activities, and educates consumers on the differences between the two potatoes through leaflets, government websites and mass media.

Businesses and individuals will be provided with packaging, carton boxes with dalat potato brand logo and anti-counterfeit stamps to pack their potatoes.

Lam Dong province aims to produce 65,000 carton boxes of 10 kg, 900,000 labels, 65,000 carton box stamps, 900,000 anti-counterfeit stamps.

On the barrels are preprinted potatoes seed 07 and P03 (varieties popularly produced in Dalat and surrounding areas) with the brand logo “Dalat – Magic crystallation from good soil”.

When packing, each carton consists of many mesh bags of 0.5 – 1kg, inside is stamped anti-counterfeit and branded Dalat potatoes.

Anti-counterfeit stamps are applied according to Hologram technology, integrated light, printed by laser printing method, addressed potato suppliers and project implementers.

The project budget is VND 1.06 billion (US$45,800), of which VND 776 million is funded by the government budget.

The Provincial Sub-Department of Plant Protection is selecting contractors for the project.

If the potato testing project is successful, other Dalat vegetables will be treated similarly.

Dalat City is one of the largest vegetable producers in Vietnam,

With output up to millions of tons.

The high quality of these vegetables is due to:

• favorable weather and use advanced farming technology and techniques.

However, some businesses are buying Chinese vegetables at lower quality prices, wearing dalat vegetables and selling them at higher prices.

For example, Chinese potatoes are bought cheaply, then topped with a layer of red dust to disguise themselves as Dalat potatoes, which are worth 3-5 times more than Chinese potatoes.

During transportation, inspection and other procedures, fake Dalat potatoes are registered and called Chinese potatoes.

Many customers in other provinces, even some dalat people have fallen before this trick because if not checked carefully, it is difficult to detect fake Dalat potatoes.

In terms of consumer confidence and market prices, Dalat potatoes have suffered a lot due to fraud. Many farmers have suffered losses selling potatoes at half the price of the original price.