September 29, 2005
RFID in the livestock industry
Tracking the origin of the food on the plate has become a high priority issue with several governments due to outbreaks of diseases such as avian flu and mad cow disease. The threat of bioterrorism is another reason that food producers and the livestock industry have to face strict regulations. However, those in the food and livestock business are also aware of the swift paybacks that can result if RFID is employed.
MacDonald, which is one of the largest sellers of food items, has mandated full traceability of the meat used in its products and its suppliers have to comply. Wal-Mart too has laid down mandates for pallet-level tagging and a lot of these pallets contain food items. RFID tracking in the livestock industry should consider the following points:
• The level of track and trace required.
• Issues to be tackled, such as theft, outbreak of disease, bioterrorism, contamination, improvement in supply chain, etc.
• Accurate animal identification as well as identification of food items. The market potential of these two is linked with each other and with future legislations that will stress upon complete traceability.
Implementing RFID will help in identifying and isolating sick animals before the disease can spread and wipe out the entire livestock. Easy traceability of food items will make item recall easier and less costly. RFID can play a major role in improving the efficiency and transparency of the supply chain and in gaining the confidence of the consumer.
Currently, up to 20% of food items reach the stores after their expiry date has passed. The real-time information provided by RFID should help to contain these events by bridging the gaps that exist in the supply chain. RFID will play a prime role in achieving traceability objectives in the livestock industry.
Livestock can be tracked with the help of visual ear tags, bar-coded ear tags, RFID ear tags, DNA testing, retinal scans, etc. The meat in the slaughter houses can be tracked with the help of RFID tags, molecular bar codes, etc. At the retail stores, paper bar codes, smart packaging, etc can be used to track products.
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