System and Method for Rapid Detection and Identification of Nucleic Acid Labeled Tags

A system for identifying which of a plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties are present on an item of interest, the system comprising:

• a plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties, wherein each nucleic acid tag variety comprises a nucleotide-support platform attached to a nucleic acid molecule, the nucleic acid molecule of each nucleic acid tag variety comprising a first and a second universal primer region common to all nucleic acid tag varieties, and a first and a second unique primer region unique to each nucleic acid tag variety;
• a first primer set comprising a first primer complementary to the first universal primer region, and a second primer complementary to the second universal primer region;
• and
• a second primer set comprising a first primer complementary to the first unique primer region of one of the plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties, and a second primer complementary to the second unique primer region of the same nucleic acid tag variety.