From Food Quality News:
An internet-based interface that allows food processors to see which country every ingredient has come from and each process a product goes through in the factory is set to significantly overhaul food chain traceability.
The Northern Ireland-based venture TraceAssured launched its online traceability initiative last week, promising to cut out many of the time-consuming headaches faced by food makers who identify a problem in the supply chain.Dr Ken Baird, chairman of the company, says the system offers information on the entire food chain, from farm to fork, within minutes, compared with hours or days required in current traceability systems.
“It uses a novel approach as it traces containers instead of batches. Each container has a barcode, which can in the future be replaced by a RFID chip,” he explained to FoodProductionDaily.com.
I believe this type of web-based tracing system backed by RFID is the best chance to help improve the safety of our food supply. Considering the state of food safety (a la melamine, lead, e. coli in the last year) and the process for handling recalls in the U.S. one thing is clear: it’s time get smarter about where our food has been.
Filed under: food industry, food safety Tagged: | FDA, RFID, technology
Hi,
Great article. RFID can help tracebaility in the food supply chain as well as other human health related supply chains like prescription medicines.
For those who would like to have an understanding about what RFID is all about, I would recommend two free resources. One is a free course on RFID basics at http://www.freerfidcourse.com and the other is a compendium of RFID case studies available at http://www.rfidebook.com
Cheers!