RFID technology has main applications for tracking agri-food products through the supply chain. It uses radio frequency to automatically identify objects like food items tagged with RFID labels. These labels contain information about the product that is transmitted to and stored in a database by RFID readers. This allows for real-time monitoring of products from production to consumer. Key uses include traceability of food sources and environmental monitoring of perishable foods during transportation and storage. RFID is beneficial as it can rapidly track large numbers of items and integrate with sensors to record temperature and other data critical for food quality and safety.

1. RFID TECHNOLOGY : MAIN APPLICATIONS
FOR AGRI-FOOD PRODUCTS
Leena Kumari (ICAR-CIPHET, Ludhiana, India)

2.  RFID- Radio Frequency Identification
 Technology for automatic identification of people, animal &
objects
 Two main components of RFID are Tag, Reader
Tag Reader

3.  RFID tag attached to the product.
 Tag contains the Information of the product .
 Tag will the transmits the data ( having information about
the product) over the air in response to interrogation by an
RFID reader
How it works

4.  A number of products can be read by the RFID technology
in short period of time.
 All the information received by the reader is stored in
computer.
 Data stored in database can be retrieved for analysis and
making decisions.

5. RFID tag contains an IC (Integrated
Circuit) chip and an antenna
encapsulated together with help of
suitable packaging
Tags can be attached to many things :
Items, cases or pallets of products,
vehicles, livestock or personnel
IC Chip
Antenna

6. Tagging the items
Tags attached to product
Tags attached to pallets
Tags attached to Boxes

7.  Do not have source of power
 Activated when come within the
range of a reader.
 Lower storage capacities (few bits to 1
KB)
 Shorter read ranges

8.  Are powered with battery and
thus are always active.
 Due to battery they are always on
for transferring the data
 Higher storage capacities (512 KB)
 Longer read range
Active tags

9. Have a small battery,
Remains inactive until activated by a
signal from a reader
Battery provides power to energize
the chip circuitry
For Data transmission energy of the
waves from reader is used

10. RFID reader consists of a decoder to
decode the information of tag and an
antenna for communicating with tag.
Controls tag reading process
guarding against collision,
misreads.
Receives commands from
application software of computer.
Used to read and write information
into tags.
Reade
r

11. Application software are used to control
reader and tag operation
Used for storage of data
Can be used for data analysis and
decision making
Software

12. Animal tracking :
RFID chips
implanted in pets,
livestock,
endangered species
for their tracking.

13.  Medical industry : patient identification, anti-
counterfeiting of drugs, tracking expensive equipments

14.  Retail stores : To prevent unauthorized access of the
items

15.  Smart shelves in retail stores : assist in effective stock
rotation.
 Maintaining the inventory of stock

16.  Environmental
monitoring
 Traceability

17.  Supply chain of food from source to destination, passes
through a numbers of stages as production, storage,
packing, transportation, processing, distribution, retail
stores and finally reaches to the consumer.

18. Temperature is the most
important factor affecting the
shelf life of perishable food
products.
RFID with sensors (temperature,
RH, gases) can record the
information at constant intervals
and improves environmental
management during various stages
of supply chain

19. Supervision of Banana Transports by the Intelligent Container,
Reiner Jedermann, Axel Moehrke, Walter Lang, 4th International
Workshop. University Bonn, Bonn, 2010, pp. 75-84

20. Development of temperature managed RFID traceability system
for frozen and chilled food during storage and transportation (
Zhang et. al, 2009)

21.  Traceability refers to the ability to locate an animal, commodity, food
product or ingredient and follow its history in supply chain forward
or backward (Hobbs et al., 2007).
 Basic information of the produce/product such as geographical origin,
variety, producer, harvesting date etc. can be stored in RFID.
 Tracing and tracking of food products in supply chain facilitate to find
out the potential source of contamination or any other problem that
can affect the quality and safety of food.
Traceability

22.  Individual product /packet can be labeled with
RFID tags .
 Stored information can be linked with web
platform where anyone can access this
information for tracing the history

23. http://taft.coa.gov.tw/
Traceability system in Taiwan

24.  RFID technology provides data at faster speed
 It can be integrated with different sensors therefore
can be used for monitoring different environmental
parameters for food items
 It can track and trace the items at any point in food
supply chain.
 RFID technology for traceability validate the source of
the food
 Traceability information of food chain can be used for
minimization of risk associated with quality and safety
of the food.
Conclusion

25.  Amador, C., Emond, J. P., & Nunes, M. C. d. N. (2009). Application
of RFID technologies in the temperature mapping of the pineapple
supply chain. Sensing and Instrumentation for Food Quality and
Safety, 3(1), 26-33.
 The research work on Frozen Tilapia Fillet evaluates the fish
product quality and predicts Shelf-life through monitoring
temperature change inside the refrigerated vehicle with the RFID
technology (W. Tingman, Z. Jian ,2010).
 Smart RFID-Label For Monitoring The Preservation Conditions
Of Food, D. Cartasegna, A. Cito, F. Conso, A. Donida, M. Grassi,
L. Malvasi, G. Rescio And P. Malcovati ,Sensors and
Microsystems: AISEM 2009 Proceedings.
 An RFID application in the food supply chain: A case study of
convenience stores in Taiwan, Hsuan Hong , Jr-Fong Dang , Yi-
Hsuan Tsai, Chen-Shen Liu, Wang-Tsang Lee, Ming-Li Wang, Pei-
Chun Chen, Journal of Food Engineering 106 (2011), 119–126.
 Most of images are cited from Google images (Varied Sources)

26. Thank
You