=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1755/129-135
|storemode=property
|title=Consumer Verification System for Authentic Product: Case Study of Manufactured Product
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1755/129-135.pdf
|volume=Vol-1755
|authors=John Oladosu,Damilola Taiwo,Christopher Akinwale Oyeleye
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/cori/OladosuTO16
}}
==Consumer Verification System for Authentic Product: Case Study of Manufactured Product==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1755/129-135.pdf
Consumer Verification System for Authentic Product:
Case Study of Manufactured Product
John B. Oladosu Damilola A. Taiwo Christopher A. Oyeleye
University of Ibadan, Ibadan Department of Computer Science Ladoke Akintola University of
/ Ladoke Akintola University of University of Ibadan, Nigeria Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria
Technology Ogbomoso, Nigeria damijeeconfirm@gmail.com caoyeleye@lautech.edu.ng
johnoladosu@gmail.com
ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION
The problem of fake products by counterfeiters and unregistered Since inception, product manufacturing has been a way to increase
manufacturers is real and constitutes a major threat to the health production and distribution of consumable products in Nigeria and
and safety of the Nigerian population. A descriptive study was beyond. This process has assisted manufacturing companies in
carried out on the present means of identifying authentic products Nigeria to get their products distributed and consumed. Over the
and fake ones by the members of the society in this work. The time manufactured products have gone wide into all parts of the
sources of information for this work include online journals, countries, that even existing products were re-produced by other
NAFDAC sites and face to face interviews with members of the manufacturing companies for distribution. Soonest this act turned
society both student in the University of Ibadan and consumers in to a menace to global economies as counterfeiting. Counterfeiting
Ibadan and its environ. All the respondents agreed that there is a became a common thing in our society, claiming lives of people
fake and counterfeit drug problem in Nigeria, and many through the use of fake manufactured food and drugs [1].
considered this a major problem. The respondents commonly used
visual security techniques before drug purchasing. These were: Counterfeiting can be described as the act of making a copy of
Seals/embossments, character of print, and mobile authentication already existing product with an intention to deceive the
system. The respondents’ most likely action after a counterfeit consumers of that product. Synonymous to this is faking or
drug encounter was to return the drug back to the supplier. The forging [2]. Counterfeiting results in distribution of fake, cheap,
study showed that consumers should be giving privileges to and substandard products, that causes havoc to the consumers.
authenticate products before it is being purchased or consumed. Counterfeited products were first reported in 1968, which mean
There is an indication that the present system (such as NAFDAC people have been dying since around 1970 from effect of this
registration number and Mobile Authentication System) has problem [3].
limitation to achieve 100% authentication process since the When mass production of counterfeited goods was detected in
system can be copied by counterfeiters. This study proposes a Nigeria, the government declared war against counterfeited goods
solution to the limitation of the existing system by developing a by setting up an agency to monitor, screen and test for authenticity
bar code authenticating system. The system uses 13 digit code of products either imported or manufactured here in Nigeria. This
consisting of a series of vertical bars of variable width that are team was named National Agency for Food and Drug
scanned by a laser; printed on consumer product packages, to Administration and Control (NAFDAC), with the mission and
identify the item from a computer that provides the information vision to sa feguard public health, and to eradicate fake
about the product and registers inventory information. This system manufactured products from Nigeria. Manufactured products
gives a 100% authenticity and trust to the society because there is include the following food, drugs, cosmetics, chemicals,
no two products that can have same barcode and this code cannot detergents, medical devices and drinks including bottled water [4].
be easily guessed by counterfeiters or uploaded to the consumer's
verification system database. In 2001, Dora Akunyili became the head of NAFDAC and one of
the things she first did was to stamp out corruption in the agency.
CCS Concepts After succeeding she moved forward to the major mission of
• General and reference ➝ Cross-computing tools and NAFDAC, which is to safeguard the public health by ensuring that
techniques Expereimentation only the right quality food, drug and other regulated products are
manufactured, exported, imported, advertised, sold and used [5].
Keywords An incidence occured in 1995, when Nigeria reportedly donated
Authentic Product, Consumer Verification System, Counterfeit
88,000 doses of meningitis vaccine to its neighbor Niger Republic.
Product, NAFDAC
Before the authorities realized that these vaccines were fake, about
60,000 (Sixty Thousand) people had been "inoculated". Akunyili
said that when she took office in 2001, fake drugs were openly
circulating in Nigeria. This is the same way fake manufactured
products are circulated concurrently in and outside Nigeria [6].
CoRI’16, Sept 7–9, 2016, Ibadan, Nigeria. 1.1 Background
The legal right of every consumer is the right to verify any
manufactured product before the product is consumed. This
process is to encourage the producers of this product to monitor
their production work before final distribution, control the number
of manufactured product during production so the product would
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not get expired before complete cycle and also fight counterfeiters registration agency has been very active in the area of controlling
to stop production and spread of fake products. and regulating the quality of consumed products in Nigeria over
the years, but it has not been without its problems. Lots of
Today, it is easy to counterfeit manufactured product despite all counterfeited products have been sold to consumers in Nigeria
governmental designed systems in controlling fake products from with fake NAFDAC number or without NAFDAC number, yet only
being distributed in Nigeria. The reason for this is that consumers NAFDAC agents know if a NAFDAC registration number is
are not given the direct right to be independent in verifying authentic or fake. This makes the consumers depend fully on the
manufactured product before consumption. Manufactured NAFDAC registration number printed on the product to show that
products are distributed to the community, for member of the the product has passed through thorough clinical or laboratory test
society’s consumption. Therefore, consumers should not depend and certified fit for society consumption and distribution.
only on the governmental designed system that can be
counterfeited during the manufacturing cycle, because when this Consumer’s verification system for authentic product is a system
causes havoc, it cannot be correctly traceable to any company. that is intended to improve the development of our society and
Even if one tries to, it can be legally denied in court. This means empower members of the society to independently confirm the
that consumers have to be empowered to use their consumers’ authenticity of a purchased product before consuming such a
right to verify all products before consumption. product. This will help reduce spreading and selling of fake
manufactured products by un-registered manufacturers to our
The proposed consumer’s verification system for authentic society. Lastly this system will enforce manufactures to register
product is a large database system, with the capacity to connect their companies’ product with NAFDAC Agency before
the 3 (three) key stakeholders together for better relationship and advertising, distribution or selling such a product.
better service production. The three key stakeholders include
National Agency for food and Drug Administration and control 1.2 Current Solution
(NAFDAC), Manufacturer and the Consumer. Note that the In India any time you are worried that a drug is fake or a
arrangement below follows the hierarchy of the system counterfeit you can verify the authenticity using this three
relationship. Every other user can be sub divided under these 3 methods which include the following: either by calling
groups. +919901099010 and verifying your medicine over the phone via
i.) NAFDAC Organization: National Agency for Food one of PharmaSecure’s agents, or by sending the short code on the
and Drugs Administration and Control is a drug to 9901099010, or last by visiting
governmental organization that controls and manages www.VerifyMyMedicine.com website portal, where you simply
thorough registration of all orally consumable products enter the authentication code printed on the drug package [8]. In
in Nigeria. Nigeria exactly 2nd February 2010, NAFDAC mandated a new
system called MAS which means mobile authentication system.
ii.) Manufacturer: This can be related to the producer of
product and services to be sold to the society. MAS (Mobile Authentication System):
iii.) Consumer: An example of this term is a person who The Mobile Authentication System is a pin printed under the
buys manufactured goods in order to be able to use the silver panel on the drugs that is currently registered under mobile
product to satisfy his or her need at a specific time. authentication service. All manufacturing firms using this system
must get NAFDAC registration number first before using this
When dealing with this 3 key groups, the number one (NAFDAC system on their manufactured product. NAFDAC enables
Organization) have to officially monitor and test the product that consumers in Nigeria to confirm whether the drug they are about
is about to be distributed before it is been publicly made available to buy is genuine using a mobile phone. The consumer simply
for the consumers for consumption, knowing fully well that sends an SMS to 38353 to confirm the genuineness of the drug.
consumers cannot officially test the content of a product by Every MAS-enabled drug comes with a unique 10-digit number
him/herself. This is why consumers rely on the trust from covered by a panel. All the consumer needs to do is to scratch off
NAFDAC and manufacturers to get the best authentic product for the panel to reveal the 10-digit number. Then the consumer texts
consumption [7]. the 10-digit number to 38353 and in a few seconds they will
Consumer’s verification system for authentic product tends to give receive an SMS with OK to confirm the authenticity. This system
members of the society the opportunity to confirm the authenticity is a toll free system which is available on drugs Ampiclox and
of this product using double channel confirmation. First, Lonart but not on all other manufactured products [9].
NAFDAC Registration number; seeing and verifying this with the
consumers verification system if positive has given the consumer
an impression that the product has gone through thorough clinical
or laboratory test and has been certified fit for consumption.
The understanding that this system (NAFDAC Registration
Number) can be counterfeited by counterfeiters makes registered
manufacturers to include barcode system on their products with a
copy of the product information in the company database. With
this system, if NAFDAC number is counterfeited then the
manufacturer’s barcode information will not be counterfeited.
Going back to history, in the recent years, members of the society
only purchases products with NAFDAC No., because this is the
best governmental designed system presently, that control the
Figure 1. Mobile Authentication System (MAS)
distribution of manufactured product in the society. NAFDAC
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1.3 Weaknesses of Current Solution 3. ANALYSIS OF THE NEW SYSTEM
The existing systems, MAS, allows consumers to verify product This work consisted of the construction of a solution system that is
status through the short code under the silver cover that can be capable of solving existing system challenges as mention above.
easily counterfeited or copied by counterfeiters with the aid of The features of the system include:
technological equipment. Since all registered products for MAS
must have a NAFDAC Number, this means consumers are being i.) Registering NAFDAC approved products.
given a double security measure for drug authenticity. For years ii.) Availability of product approval status (FULL
now we have not had a record of any fake or not unregistered APPROVED or PENDING APPROVAL).
product through the Mobile Authenticity Service; all messages
have responded OK [9]. If we think about this, does it means that iii.) Communication platform through message centre.
all product with Mobile Authenticity Service is authentic? iv.) Verification and uploading of new produced product
If this system is a manufacturer’s designed system, which means details.
it’s a system designed for manufacturers use only. It makes it easy v.) Consumers will be able to check for product authenticity
for counterfeiters to use this same similar system to design same through NAFDAC number and Bar Code that
product or new product in which consumers will still get the same differentiates each product from the other.
OK reply when they sent the short code on the counterfeited
product [9]. Another point is that if the system is not authentic, for vi.) Finally the new system will be user-friendly for
example, what happens to the product and the manufacturer? How maximum usage on all device screen platform, which
will the seller or consumer make complains to appropriate firm for include smartphones, monitors, tablet and notebooks.
necessary action? This existing system does not give room for
easy communication between the administrator, product 3.1 Use Case Modeling
consumers and manufacturers, because all complains must be Use Case Models (Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4) describe the
directed to NAFDAC office at Lagos [7]. functionalities of the new system. The Use Case represents a
discrete unit of interaction between a user (Consumers,
The present system also allows email and phone call Administrator and Manufacturer) and the system. This interaction
communication, which is not effective in case of spam mails and is a single unit of meaningful work, such as user account creation,
busy communication network. login etc.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical basis of this study is discussed in this section.
2.1 Structure of NAFDAC Number
National association for food and drug administration control
number popularly known as NAFDAC No is a 6 digit
authentication number, that confirms that a product is authentic
for consumption. Before a manufactured product is assigned a
NAFDAC No, this product must have passed through clinical test
and confirmed that all chemicals, substances and material use is
good for consumption of members of the society. Also the
manufacturing company facilities and source of their raw
materials for manufacturing the product must be overseen for
product continuity. All this is necessary in order to monitor the
production of raw material. When it comes to processing of water,
the NAFDAC No are seven digits, first two digits, secondly 4
digits and one alphabet. Example: 04-4567L [10].
2.2 Bar Code Number
Barcode are developed in colored and black and white format.
This series of adjacent strips of various widths is used to store
information of the manufactured product. It is a set of binary
number in which the wide black bar space signifies one and the
thin black represents zero, information stored in this binary set
may include the price, product details and so on.
For example, Microsoft's HCCB technology uses 4 or 8 colors per
patch. Barcode makes use of algorithm to decode the information
saved in the lines. Barcodes can be used in variety of areas which
include the following: Sales point terminal, controlling personnel
access systems, mailing systems, and in manufacturing for work-
in process and lastly inventory control system, etc., Barcode
reading system e.g. scanner can be implemented or developed
Figure 2. Use Case for Manufacturers System
using light beam. Presently there are lots of android barcode
system software that can single-handedly decode barcode
encrypted information [11].
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iii.) Administrator can register zero or many product
iv.) Consumer can report one or many counterfeited product
to Administrator
v.) Administrator can communicate with zero or many
manufacturers
Figure 3. Use Case for Administrator System
3.2 Relationship modelling
The relationship model (Figure 5) shows the following
relationships between the entities
i.) Consumers can verify zero or many product
ii.) Manufacturer can register expiring date &
Manufacturing date of one or many product.
Figure 4. Use Case for Consumers System
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Figure 5. Relationship Model Diagram for Consumer verification System
Web development Programming language, which include
HTML 5, PHP, MySQL, etc.
4. Implementation with screen shots
The user interface is the communicating part of the system. It 4.1 Consumer’s Operation Screenshots
describes how the user interacts with the system and how the Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the screenshots captured from the
software communicates within itself. The following interface is developed system.
the webpages that will interact with the application users
whenever it is launched. The Programing language used is the If product is authentic the system automatically displays the
product details in the view in Figure 7.
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Figure 6. NAFDAC Registration Number: The NAFDAC No on the purchased manufactured product.
BARCODE DIGIT: Represent the 13 or 8 digit on every
manufactured product
AUTHENTICATE NOW: To confirm the authenticity of the
product.
Figure 7. Authenticated product information
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5. Conclusion Dept. of Computer Science and Information Systems, Donald
The aim of this research exercise is to build and implement a R. Tapia School of Business, Saint Leo University.
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counterfeit drugs. World Health Organization.
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used to promote consumers right and reduce death caused from SMS short codes. from
use of fake manufactured products. This work has actually smartsmssolutions.com/blog/item/149-all-you-to know-
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