Why canned drinks are harder to counterfeit than bottled drinks

Walk into a shop and it can be difficult to tell whether a familiar soft drink is genuine just by looking at the packaging.

Counterfeit beverages are a real problem, particularly because a fake product can put consumers at risk while damaging the reputation of established brands.

In Kenya, the Anti-Counterfeit Authority's 2025 firm-level survey found that 18% of products on average were reported as being counterfeited, with alcoholic beverages recording a 19% prevalence.

The country's earlier national baseline survey also identified food, beverages and non-alcoholic drinks as the sector responsible for the largest share of government revenue losses from illicit trade.

Yet there is a reason counterfeiter may find some canned drinks more difficult to reproduce convincingly than bottled beverages. The difference lies largely in how the containers are manufactured, sealed and printed.

A major advantage of canned drinks is that the container is manufactured specifically for the beverage production process.

An aluminium can isn't simply a container with a label attached. Its body, lid, opening mechanism and seams are produced to precise specifications before the drink is filled.

The lid is mechanically joined to the can using a tightly controlled double-seaming process.

Reproducing the same dimensions, finish and integrity requires specialised machinery. A poorly made seam can be an immediate indication that something isn't right.

Bottled drinks can have a simpler route to imitation because the branding may largely depend on a printed label or sleeve placed around an existing bottle.

Many canned beverages have their branding printed directly onto the aluminium surface. This means a counterfeiter cannot simply remove a label and replace it with another one.

The packaging may contain detailed graphics, small lettering, colour combinations, barcodes, production information and other design elements. Reproducing all of these accurately requires commercial printing equipment and the correct materials.

With plastic bottles, a counterfeit operation can potentially obtain commercially available bottles and concentrate its efforts on reproducing the label and cap.

The familiar ring-pull on a can is another highly engineered component.

The tab, scored opening and lid are designed to work together while maintaining the seal and protecting the contents. Producing a convincing replacement isn't simply a matter of copying the shape.

This also makes the packaging harder to manipulate without leaving signs of interference.

Bottles aren't necessarily easier to fake

This doesn't mean bottled drinks are inherently insecure.

Major beverage manufacturers use tamper-evident caps, specialised bottles, labels, barcodes and production codes. Some plastic bottles also have distinctive shapes that make them difficult to reproduce.

The important difference is that a bottle can separate the container from the branding more easily.

A manufacturer can use a standard bottle and add a label, while a can's appearance is more closely tied to its industrial manufacturing process.

The scale of the aluminium can industry is another factor. According to the International Aluminium Institute, aluminium beverage cans achieved a 74.8% global recycling rate in 2023, based on data from 35 countries.

The same study put PET bottle recycling at 47% and glass bottles at 41.9%.

That doesn't directly measure counterfeiting, but it demonstrates how highly developed and standardised the can manufacturing and recovery system is.

The idea that canned drinks cannot be counterfeited is a myth.

A sophisticated counterfeit operation could potentially obtain genuine containers, reuse packaging or reproduce branding using industrial equipment.

In fact, Kenya's Anti-Counterfeit Act specifically recognises cans, containers, labels and other packaging as things that can carry counterfeit marks.

The real advantage of cans is therefore not that they are impossible to fake. They simply present more physical and manufacturing barriers to someone trying to produce a convincing imitation.