The Australian prawn industry has co-invested in a national marketing strategy for Australian prawns "Love Australian Prawns" (LAP). However, an ongoing industry concern is the practice of substitution of Australian prawns with imported or lower value/quality/uncertified product, and the negative impact this may have on the national Australian prawn branding. To support the national marketing strategy, a rapid and robust scientific method must be developed to verify compliance and ensure product integrity, including food safety, truth in labelling and traceability. Trace metal authentication methods used by other primary production industries represents a possible opportunity to prove provenance. This investment will validate the potential use of trace metal technology to verify provenance and, if successful explore implementation to prevent substitution and manage product integrity issues.