Networked RFID for use in the Food Chain

Peter Jones
Hitachi Europe Ltd.
Whitebrook Park Lower Cookham Road Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 8YA, UK

Abstract- Much work has been done in the field of industry related issues. An inference is made that
food technology and processing [on both the the increased awareness of these issues could result
product and the supply chain side] to increase in a more stable environment for consumers,
consumer safety and to drive towards increased producers and processers alike.
customer satisfaction. However, there are still
many concerns raised by both the consumers and
the food standards bodies with respect to potential
problems that could arise from unexpected
conditions or when track and tracing in the food
supply chain breaks down. The development of
networked systems to ensure integrity of data
throughout the supply chain are a key tool to
provide the full traceability of food products. The
addition of wireless identification technologies to
provide persistent identifiers for food products will
become a key mechanism to enhance the consumer
Fig. 1 Survey results for Food Safety awareness
experience. This paper presents the use of RFID
by Food Security Bureau Japan (May 2005)
track and tracing technology to help create a safer
food supply chain
II. PROBLEM AREAS
IN EASTERN ASIAN FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
I. INTRODUCTION
As an example of some of the initiatives under-
One of the areas showing a strong potential for
way in Japan right now a range of regulations and
RFID to add value to the existing market situation
standardisations are being introduced. These cover
is in the food value chain including processing,
the wide range of topics coupled collectively under
distribution, traceability and process improvement.
animal diseases, food contamination, genuine-ness
This paper presents some practical examples of real
of products, and whether GM based techniques
market concerns where networked RFID
have been used in the production process or not.
applications are seen to add value both in the
For example:
upstream food processing industry and for
(1) The ministry of Agriculture has started the full-
downstream consumers. Some of the key initiatives
scale launch of Traceability system with ID tags
that are underway in the Japan are outlined.
which carries crop’s various individual information
What are the major issues? An important place
such as producer, chemicals, and distribution
to start is to understand what the issues are that are
channel. An IC tag is installed on the wrapping
driving towards a greater degree of traceability in
paper of the product to make it easier for customers
the food industry and supply chain. This chart
to obtain information relating to the producing
shows the results of a survey undertaken in Japan
district, processing, etc [1].
during May 2005. More than 10,000 people were
(2) The ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
surveyed regarding their feelings on a number of
has started to construct a trade system with an IC
key controversial food industry topics ranging from
tag that exchanges mass product information by
pollution through to animal health and disease
wireless radio control among ASEAN nations. It
issues and on to farming and food production
aims to provide efficiency of customs procedures
techniques.
and inventory control by using an IC tag which is
In dark shading the areas of high concern for
able to record production and distribution
each of these topics can be seen. It is clear that the
information [2].
two major areas of concern relate to general
(3) Common infrastructure of IC tag has been
pollution and then to specific agricultural pollution
completed in 8 Asian countries and regions
with over 50% responding to general pollution as
including Japan, Korea, and China. The service will
the prime concern. What is also alarming is that for
be started from January, 2006. This system is
the majority of issues, almost 50% of people
expected to facilitate product distribution control
expressed concern for the outlined problem areas.
across national borders. For instance, information
Such a survey illustrates a high level of
registered in Japan is available to be read in other
awareness of the public with respect to food
regions. Japan (as in HITACHI, Ltd.) leads the

1-4244-0681-1/06/$20.00 '2006 IEEE 1119

system, which is more easier to implement because
of the cost effective prices of the tag solutions when
compared with other solutions. It aims and
prepares to acquire the international standard. The
system is established by the Japanese IC tag
promotion council, “Ubiquitous ID center” based in
Shinagawa, Tokyo., Hitachi is one of the members
of the council. It will work in collaboration with 7
other Asian countries and regions such as China,
Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and
Australia [3].
What items can be tagged? There are a range of
stages at which RFID tags can be applied and a
range of different items that can be tagged. Animal
tagging or animal ID has been an area of activity
for a number of years where perhaps a real
explosion in use has been held back by technology
costs and practical usage constraints. There are
clear benefits that can be picked up by various
players in the stock value chain with the ideal
solution being tags attached to animals that are
linked eventually right through the production chain
down to individual cuts. Tags need to achieve
economic price structures to fit with cost
constraints within the industry. Such concepts for
example are managed today using bar-codes in the
Beef industry after the BSE scare in UK and
Europe. In this case a parent child relationship is
maintained between the animal and the cuts of meat
that emanate from that animal.
Huge benefits can be obtained within the
processing supply chain through the use of RFID
tagged containers and trays. For example, cuts of
meat and base products that are sent for onward
processing and distribution can be managed though
a single tagged tray.
A parent child relationship can be created
between the tray/carton and items that are either
made from the trays base product or put into a clean
tray for distribution. Traceability is enhanced and
Fig.2 Concepts for trace forward and trace back
1120
the processors supply chain functions can be
optimised knowing which trays or cartons
containing which end products have been delivered
to which customers.
Retailers can optimise their supply chains by
taking advantage of the tagged containers and
sharing common databases to confirm receipt of
products.
III. THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS
OF THE FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
The food supply chain from source to consumer
can sometimes be a complex one with many
different organisations often forming part of the
supply chain. There are instances where large co-
operative organisations control and manage the
complete chain from base production right through
to the stores where the products are sold. In these
cases, the co-operative organisation can manage the
traceability issues in line with local compliance
regulations.
However, this only represents a minority within
overall terms of the size of the industry. If
traceability throughout the chain is to be optimised
then a secure but practical level of shared access to
the relevant data is a key requirement. Item level
traceability with the ability to identify products
throughout their life-cycle will generate potentially
huge volumes of data. The process of managing
this data will place additional demands on the
organisations providing professional IT services to
the industry.
New value chains and new business models will
appear. The application of auto-id technologies
provides for effective trace-forward and trace-back
solutions for the industry providing a framework
across shared components of the processing and
distribution chain.
 Figure 3: Overview of food distribution system
Through the use of shared data, hosted on a
service basis on behalf of many industry players,
the possibility of information sharing across this
full range of industry players becomes a reality.
From the raw materials producer to intermediate
processor to product manufacturer to retailer and
finally the consumer, all can benefit from the use of
a persistent identifier attached to the item during its
lifecycle. Trace-forward applications become vital
in the event of a contamination scare or product
fault scare that results in a recall of product. The
up-stream producer and processer can identify
where and when shipments have been made and the
products can be traced forward to ensure timely and
safe recall.
Breaking this down into discrete stages, the first
stage is production and product quality control. In a
standard example of a processed food product, a
number of ingredients go towards making the final
product. The ID numbers of either individual or
batch level ingredients are scanned into a database.
The processing steps can be scanned and noted as
“events” in the production lifecycle. With the
Fig. 4 Flow of information and process in traceability system
1121
addition of other production data, e.g. cooking
times, temperatures, recipes etc. it becomes
possible to maintain a detailed record of the
production batch. Finally, the end product is tagged
and linked back to the production records.
Such data can be supplied as a product manifest
when the end products are finally shipped.
The result is an accurate record of what was
used in what process to create what product. In
Fig.3, the information moves between the stages of
the distribution channel. Most supply chains are of
the “open type” where a number of different players
are involved in the overall process.
With central records and network access being
provided, each player in the chain can “see” and
“update” the product info as it is scanned at various
stages in its lifecycle. Ideally the consumers should
be able to scan using a ubiquitous device such as
mobile phone equipped with RFID reader with a
link through the mobile network to the central data
repository.

IV. PRACTICAL TRACEABILITY
A dedicated tracking system allows full access
to data for product, pallet, lot, batch number etc.
Figure 4 illustrates the information flows. As long
as an id hierarchy is maintained, a sealed pallet
built up with individually tagged items need only be
scanned in order to upate or retrieve the related
item level data. Trace forward processing is made
considerably easier and the distributor is able to
provide full inventory details upon delivery.
For high-end products, a persistent and secure
identifier can provide ease of mind for both retailers
and consumers. Validation of indivual item’s
authenticity becomes a possibility. Current
identifiers including bar-code labels and holograms
can be copied and fraudulent products can enter
into supply chains.
Animal Tagging Solutions
Livestock tagging solutions need to be
economical and practical to use. Figure 5 shows an
example of livestock tracking using a custom
designed tag for the pig industry.
Fig. 5 Livestock RFID tag for pigs
The critical management information is based
on:
• Which breed and which farm ?
• Life history of the animal including
movements, inspections and medical
records
• Breeding history and statutory compliance
data
Such management information can be recorded
using appropriate reader units and compliance
information can be maintained and monitored
accordingly. The custom designed tag took into
account the tough environmental conditions
associated with pig farming and several iterations
of tag were needed to get to an optimal design that
could survive the conditions of the animals life-
cycle.
1122
Introduction to the Hitachi mu-chip
The mu-chip shown in figure 6 is the world’s
smallest RFID product based on passive technology.
From the perspective of networked RFID
applications, the mu-chip is linked to a back-office
data-base through a unique ID number stored in
ROM. The unique ID numbers are written during
wafer fabrication stage and cannot be changed.
Hitachi is able to guarantee the integrity of this
number.The mu-chip sits effectively at the edge of
the ubiquitous network providing what can be
thought of as a passive IP address to link to a
virtual representation of the tagged article in a
centralised database.
From the point of view of the industry user,
the simplistic model of mu-chip provides benefits
for implementation and allows application and data
management issues to be taken care of in the secure
and centralised database location. Low cost inlets
are required for eventual item level tagging and the
small footprint of the mu-chip means it has an
inherently lower cost structure than many other
designs.
The small size leads to a higher tensile strength
than other larger chip products. This in turn means
that many tag form factors can be supported and a
wide range of rugged environments can be tolerated
through the use of a suitably designed tag. From
the end users perspective, the quality of the tag is a
key issue especially when it must undergo the
rigours of a wide range of supply chain conditions.
A strong product fabricated with the use of low
temperature chip to antenna bonding techniques and
low level of susceptibility to ESD means that a
wide variety of operating conditions can be
tolerated.
Fig. 6 Die version and
antenna attached version of mu-chip
Mu-Chip Projects for the Food Industry
A project was started in December 2003 to
create full traceability of meat, ham and sausage
products. A centralised database system is
provided on an ASP basis to provide cross industry
access from a range of producers and processors
and retailers. Figure 7 shows that Mu-chips were
attached and scanned at various stages of the
product during its life-cycle. The different stake-
holders are able to access the centralised data and
security controls ensure that data cannot be
tampered with.
In a similar way, both specialised and standard
mu-chip tags can be used to guarantee the
authenticity of products that would normally be
open to counterfeit abuse such as valuable wine or
Figure 7: mu-chip used in the meat industry in Japan
Fig. 8 Special mu-chip seal for liquor bottles
When the seal cap is removed the specially
adapted antenna breaks and the chip id number can
no longer be read. Such an application prevents
the re-use of the bottles once emptied. Production
quotas can be managed and counterfeit products in
the supply chain can be quickly identified. Linked
to a centralised database such a kind of system
could be used as an effective tool to manage
parallel markets in the brand industry right through
to the management of goods that are subject to
excise duties including tobacco and other controlled
goods such as drugs and liquid preparations in the
health or pharmaceutical industry.
Intelligent Networks
It is worth considering the effect of extend the
use of RFID debate to include the next generation
of network connected sensors that will work in
conjunction with RFID to provide a whole new
1123
liquor. An example of this is the “seal cap” shown
in figure 8. When the special seal is applied to the
bottle, the tag can be read with a reader to ensure
that the contents of the bottle have not been
tampered with.
range of services and business opportunities. In the
Sensor network shown in Figure 9, there are a range
of different types of sensors that link to centralised
systems to allow effective management of resources.
These Next generation smart technologies are
already being constructed with links to such service
networks allowing for automated and efficient
handling of resources within whole buildings and
individual condominiums. A natural extension of
this will see RFID and sensors working together in
the food industry and supply chain to provide new
levels of service and compliance with mandates and
service level agreements.
For example, if a consignment of perishable
goods like expensive fish is considered, it would be
beneficial if a guaranteed manifest of
environmental conditions could be delivered along
with a lorry load of goods. Such a manifest would
be gathered through the network of sensors and
RFID tags inside a truck and/or storage locations
during the logistics and shipping stage and
communicated automatically to a central data server.
The customer could access the data at any time
during the delivery process and check the critical
condition of the products prior to signing off the
delivery. Similarly, using an in-bound scanner, the
customer can check that the products delivered are
exactly as the products that were consigned for
shipment.
 Figure 9: Example of a Sensor network

V. CONCLUSION REFERENCES

A defined set of conditions normally applies in [1] August 15th, 2004 Nikkei (Japan economy)
any given industry for the introduction of new newspaper.
technology products and services for that industry. [2] September 20th, 2004 Nikkei (Japan economy)
In general, RFID is implemented for at least one of newspaper.
the three conditions, compliance, process [3] December 10th, 2004 Nikkei (Japan economy)
improvement, accountability. newspaper.
The issues of food safety are growing and
people are becoming more concerned regarding
what they are eating. Food is a basic commodity
and the strong requirements for high levels of
quality control remain with many consumers and
place big responsibility on the processors. There is
an increasing desire to know both what it is that is
being eaten as well as where it has come from.
This in turn is leading to a strong requirement to
move towards full traceability solutions.
Initiatives for item level tracking are well
advanced in some areas such as tracking of beef
products and requirements are getting stronger in
many others. The organisations that can show full
traceability are the ones that can make gains in
customer satisfaction and market share as well as
demonstrating the inherent safety of their products,
the quality of their processes and the strength of
their corporate governance.
Small and cost effective RFID tags in the MHz
and GHz frequency bands will be key in a range of
food products to increase safety and maintain
consumer confidence. Through practical networked
traceability solutions using smart technologies,
new business models will appear to cover so many
items such as service, coding, architecture,
protocols and security etc.

1124