A LASER beam may be lighting the way of the future at an organic farm in Queensland.
Fruit and vegetables at Googa Farms are being labelled with a laser that makes a permanent mark on the skin without affecting the flesh.
The system is the first to be installed in Australia.
As the food is effectively branded, the label cannot be swapped or tampered with.
It also uses far less electricity than a sticker machine - the same amount as a light bulb.
The laser can label 14 pieces of fruit a second, however Googa Farms director Anthony Beutel said he had set the machine to label "only" five pieces of fruit a second.
"It's certainly much quicker than stickering them by hand," Mr Beutel said.
"It seemed pointless buying stickers to be just looked at and then thrown away."
So far the Natural Light Labelling System - made by manufacturing company Durand Wayland - has been used on avocados, pumpkins and tomatoes.
It sits above a conveyor belt equipped with dishes for the fruit or vegetable.
The laser points down at the produce and is activated when an inbuilt sensor detects it.
Googa Farms sales manager Nick Miall said the machine could also print a phrase or picture on the produce, such as "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Father's Day".
"We can write whatever we want, if a customer wants their name on it we can do that as well," Mr Miall said.
He said the business should recoup the $80,000 set-up cost within five years.
Victorian Farmers Federation horticulture group president Peter Cochrane said the laser offered an easy way for consumers to distinguish between different suppliers.
"Some of the bigger pack houses would definitely use it," Mr Cochrane said.
He said it could also replace individual stickering, which he labelled "a pain".
