ABSTRACT
Product traceability is the addition of a feature to the product or packaging that provides information about the identity of the product, its origin, manufacture, or authorized destination. Of major concern to many manufacturers is maintaining the ability to protect the integrity of their product once it leaves their control. A classic example of what can happen occurred in Washington State in the 1980s with the over-the-counter pharmaceutical Tylenol. A man developed an elaborate plan to murder his wife. He purchased four bottles of Tylenol capsules at a local chain drugstore. He then contaminated the capsules in each of the bottles with cyanide and reverse shoplifted three of the poisoned bottles to the same drugstore and saved one bottle for his wife’s use. His basic theory behind the crime was that the police would suspect that his wife’s death would be considered the random act of a deranged mass murderer and that he would not be suspected. Things did not work out to his benefit. His wife only became ill and recovered. The other bottles were found and the evidence pointed to the husband; he was convicted for attempted murder. This incident led to major changes in overthe-counter drug manufacture and to the production and sale of consumer products in general, most importantly, the development of a myriad of antitampering programs for both bulk and primary packaging of food, drug, and cosmetic items.
