Geir Vevle, CTO of RFID specialist Hrafn told FoodProductionDaily.com that use of super-chilling could extend the shelf life of meat products by weeks if it were used within the supply chain, and that research was being conducted by the Norwegian meat industry.
Currently the technique was more widely used for fish, he said, but a tight temperature threshold meant that it hadn’t displaced standard refrigeration – in movements between abattoirs and distribution centres – in the Norwegian meat sector thus far.
Temperatures must stay colder that O°C, he said, but not fall below -1.7°C or the quality of the chilled meat product could be affected, but ensuring they stayed within these limits was difficult.
“We see great interest in the Norwegian food market [in RFID] since the movement from wooden to plastic pallets [consistent with food trade body Norsk Lastbærer’s Pool’s (NLP’s) long-term goal to replace wooden with plastic pallets in Norway], means that RFID chips can be embedded in them,” Vevle said.
RFID meat pilot
In a recent pilot study co-funded by the Norwegian government, Hrafn worked with research organisation Sintef and Fatland Ølen slaughterhouse, to assess the effectiveness of RFID technology to track meat temperatures as products were shipped to a distribution centre in Trondheim, a 14-hour drive.
RFID temperature sensors (and Quick Response code or ‘QR’, matrix barcoded labels, to assess stock movements at various stages) were fitted to lorry ceilings and side walls – as well as four legs of lamb – to detect temperature variations, in an attempt to assess whether temperature measurements could be transmitted in real time via RFID from the truck via an RFID reader.
Although Hrafn’s EPCIS (EPC Information Services System standard) system was able to collect some data, the study showed that most RFID sensor tags were not read by interrogators, because signals could not pass through densely packed meat to the truck’s reader.
Results still awaited
Vevle told the RFID Journal that only 3 of 13 temperature sensors transmitted data to the RFID reader during transit, although the tags did log total journey data that was then assessed at the end of the journey by Sintef.
He added that he expected analysis of the results to be complete by December 31, by which time the researchers expect to determine whether proper temperatures were maintained in the truck, and whether online monitoring was beneficial.
The research group could conclude that RFID was not reliable enough to track meat temperatures for this online application, although he said that in this case researchers could simply install more temperature sensor tags to capture data.
Vevle also told this publication: “Combining the QR codes on the temperatures tags and the logging capabilities of the RFID tag is worth mentioning.
“By scanning the barcode with any cellphone [smartphone], scientists and workers of the food company and transporter can easily store an event when certain processes of significance occur to the products being monitored.
“This ensures that the temperature of the log can be put into its proper context, even when the log is not read from the tag until after the tag is present at a site that is able to read the log.”
Through this combination of technologies – QR coded labels and tags – Vevle said packaging and storing and shipping events could be recorded.
“The RFID infrastructure then were able to focus on the main task of reading the temperature," he added.