An “invisible barcode” which can be sprayed onto joints of meat and scanned by consumers using a smartphone will thwart future food fraud, scientists have claimed.

The accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) is developing an edible signature with an agent used in spices and powdered milk that promises to reveal how the animal was raised, what it ate and where it was processed.

The new electronic etching procedure is due to be launched in Australia and China within the next 12 months.

Once in widescale use, the technology should help regulators and shoppers avoid food fraud such as the horse meat scandal which rocked the British meat industry in 2013.

The procedure begins at the abattoir, where meat is sprayed with fine particles of silicon dioxide.

This can create a distinctive pattern which is capable of being recognised by a hyper-spectrum gun, which shines a light onto the microparticles and reads back a unique wavelength.

The tagging could be done at every stage of the meat production process, potentially enabling individual steaks or other cuts of meat to be identifiable.

Initially, however, the micro tag will be embedded into meats’s primary packaging only.

This is while PWC obtain regulatory approval to use the silicon, which is used as an anti-caking agents in some food stuffs, to be used for tracking and serialisation.