RFID and Sensor Network Automation in the Food Industry Ensuring Quality and Safety through Supply Chain Visibility

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a key technology in the food industry that facilitates real-time visibility of items as they move through the supply chain and on to the end-consumer. Among all the currently available automatic identification technologies, RFID has clear dominance in terms of its ability to support real-time two-way communication, data storage and update, authentication, ambient condition sense and report, batch read without direct line-of-sight, operation in harsh environments and sensor-based applications.

RFID and Sensor Network Automation in the Food Industry provides sufficient detail on the use of RFID and sensor networks from `farm to fork (F2F) to allow the reader to appreciate the myriad possible applications of RFID and associated sensor network systems throughout the entire food supply chain. This includes precision agriculture, the provision of seamless visibility in track and trace applications, reduction of wastage, identification of counterfeits and contamination sources, remaining shelf-life applications for perishables, and quality and safety measures, among others.

Providing state-of-the-art information from peer-reviewed research publications as well as general industry trends, this book will be of interest to all stakeholders in the agri-food supply chain, and academics and advanced students with an interest in these fields.

Wei Zhou, Associate Professor, Information & Operations Management, ESCP Europe, Paris, France.

Preface, xiii

Acknowledgments, xvii

Part I: Introduction

1 Book overview, 3

1.1 General trends, 4

1.1.1 Population growth, 4

1.1.2 Food quality and safety, 6

1.2 Challenges faced by the food industry, 7

1.2.1 Political, economic, and social influences, 8

1.2.2 Global warming, 9

1.3 Traceability in the food industry, 10

1.4 Structure of this book, 13

References, 15

2 RFID, sensor networks, 17

Summary, 17

2.1 History of RFID and relevant technologies, 17

2.1.1 AIDC technologies, 19

2.1.2 Applications, 22

2.2 Technology overview of RFID, 23

2.2.1 Tags, receivers, and information systems for RFID, 23

2.2.2 RFID tag, 24

2.2.3 RFID receiver and information system, 26

2.3 RFID and sensor networks integration in the food industry, 27

2.3.1 RFID and WSN architectures, 27

2.4 RFID implementation challenges, 37

2.4.1 Ownership transfer issues, 37

2.4.2 Cost issues, 40

2.4.3 Privacy/security issues, 41

2.4.4 Back-end system bottleneck, 42

2.4.5 Risk of obsolescence, 43

2.4.6 Read error, 44

2.4.7 Economic disincentives to sharing item-level information, 45

2.4.8 Recent debates, 46

References, 47

Part II: RFID in food production, the supply chain, retailing, and sustainability

3 RFID in agriculture, 53

Summary, 53

3.1 Agricultural production systems, 56

3.1.1 Crop cultivation system, 56

3.1.2 Livestock production systems, 59

3.1.3 Mixed crop and livestock systems, 61

3.1.4 Productivity and potential constraints, 62

3.2 RFID-enabled sensor network automation in agriculture, 63

3.2.1 Environmental monitoring, 63

3.2.2 Precision agriculture, 67

3.2.3 Machinery management, 74

3.2.4 Facility automation, 79

3.2.5 Agricultural traceability, 81

3.3 Standards, challenges, and limitations, 83

3.3.1 Technological implementations, 83

3.3.2 RFID standardization in agriculture, 84

3.3.3 Harsh environment, 85

3.3.4 Read range and accuracy, 85

3.3.5 Data management and information granularity, 86

3.3.6 Cost, 86

3.3.7 Skilled personnel shortage, 87

3.3.8 Integration with chemical sensors, 87

References, 87

4 RFID and sensor network in food processing, 93

Summary, 93

4.1 Automated food-processing technologies, 95

4.1.1 Process control systems and structure, 96

4.1.2 Food-processing stages, 98

4.2 RFID and sensor network automation in food processing, 101

4.2.1 Sensor networks in food processing control, 101

4.2.2 Automation in food processing, 106

4.2.3 Accurate and fuzzy controls, 108

4.3 Case study, 110

4.3.1 Wine bottle traceability at Chateau Louis, 110

References, 111

5 RFID in food supply-chain management, 113

Summary, 113

5.1 RFID and the food supply chain, 114

5.1.1 Globalization of the food supply chain, 114

5.1.2 Contamination incidents, 115

5.1.3 Government regulations, 115

5.1.4 RFID as an indispensable solution, 116

5.1.5 RFID Advantages in the food supply chain, 118

5.2 Food supply chain traceability, 120

5.2.1 Related literature, 121

5.2.2 Examples of traceability, 122

5.2.3 Modeling traceability in the food chain, 124

5.2.4 Intelligent transition model of physical traceability, 125

5.2.5 Data analysis: An example of Bayesian network, 126

5.3 Global food supply chain e-collaboration, 129

5.3.1 EDI in the food industry, 130

5.3.2 RFID’s impact on EDI in the food industry, 132

5.4 Cold-chain logistics with RFID, 133

5.5 Third-party certification (TPC), 135

5.6 Case studies, 141

5.6.1 Nut farming with RFID, 141

5.6.2 RFID for the best tasting beer, 143

5.6.3 RFID in the seafood supply chain, 145

References, 145

6 RFID in food retailing, 149

Summary, 149

6.1 Internationalized food marketing and retailing, 149

6.1.1 The international food retailing trend, 150

6.1.2 Structure of growth, 151

6.1.3 International food retailing in the 2000s, 152

6.1.4 The role of information technologies in global food retailing, 153

6.2 Dynamic food retailing management with RFID, 153

6.2.1 Dynamic item-level pricing framework, 154

6.2.2 Retailing with dynamic item-level pricing, 154

6.2.3 Dynamic pricing, 157

6.2.4 Knowledge-based system performance evaluation, 163

6.3 Multiple-channel retailing of food products, 170

6.3.1 Multiple-channel framework, 170

6.3.2 Consumer preference and consumer-targeted marketing, 173

6.3.3 Recommender systems, 174

6.3.4 Strategic implications, 176

6.4 Food retail inventory management, 182

6.4.1 Shelf life, 182

6.4.2 Perishable food item inventory management, 187

6.4.3 Number of facings, 189

6.5 Loyalty program and customer-relationship management with RFID, 193

6.5.1 Consumer preference mining framework with RFID, 193

6.5.2 Customer service optimization with consumer preference measurement, 198

6.5.3 Functional Analysis with Item-Level Identification, 199

6.5.4 Managerial insights, 203

References, 205

7 Sustainability and green food supply chain, 211

Summary, 211

7.1 CF and LCA, 213

7.2 Challenges associated with CF for food items, 215

7.3 Local food and the food miles concept, 217

7.4 CO2e labels, 219

7.5 Practicality of carbon footprint measurement and credit assignments, 220

7.6 RFID use in carbon label information generation, 221

7.7 Reducing emissions through supply-chain efficiency, 222

References, 223

8 Perishable food and cold-chain management, 227

Summary, 227

8.1 Cold-chain management, 227

8.2 Traceability in cold chains, 229

8.3 Contamination, ePedigree, supply-chain visibility, 231

8.4 Food safety and traceability, 234

8.5 RFID for traceability in cold chains, 235

8.6 Case studies, 239

8.6.1 Milk logistics to discover RFID, 239

8.6.2 RFID Solution, 240

8.6.3 Process and Communication Transparency, 241

References, 241

Part III: Food quality, safety, policy, and future

9 REID for food quality, safety, and security, 245

Summary, 245

9.1 Food quality and safety, 245

9.2 Biosensors for foodborne pathogens, 248

9.3 Food spoilage and foodborne illness, 250

9.3.1 Food spoilage and biological factors, 250

9.3.2 Food spoilage and chemical factors, 251

9.3.3 Food spoilage and physical factors, 251

9.4 Prevention and retardation of food spoilage, 252

9.4.1 Food handling and processing, 253

9.4.2 Food preservation, 254

9.4.3 Food processing equipment, 254

9.4.4 Food packaging and storage, 255

9.4.5 Sources of information, 258

9.5 Microbial detection, GIS, sensor networks, 259

9.5.1 Microbiological detectors for food safety applications, 259

9.5.2 Surveillance with weather-based GIS, 261

9.5.3 Sensor network-enabled automated surveillance, 262

9.6 Case study: RFID helps ensure safety in meat processing, 263

References, 264

10 Big data in the food industry, 267

Summary, 267

10.1 What are big data?, 268

10.1.1 Big data – variety, 269

10.1.2 Big data – velocity, 269

10.1.3 Big data – volume, 270

10.1.4 Challenges, 270

10.1.5 Benefits and practices, 270

10.2 Data analytics, 271

10.2.1 Algorithms and models, 271

10.2.2 Bias-variance, 272

10.2.3 Preprocessing data, 273

10.3 Big data in the food industry, 276

10.3.1 Recipes, restaurants, 276

10.3.2 Help feed nine billion people by 2050, 277

10.4 Big data and the food supply chain, 278

10.4.1 Food supply chain visibility, 279

10.4.2 Intelligent food supply chain, 279

10.4.3 Risk management, 280

10.4.4 Price optimization, perishable inventory management, 281

10.4.5 Barriers, 283

References, 283

11 Food policy and regulations with information technology, 285

Summary, 285

11.1 The role of RFID and sensor networks in food-safety certification, 285

11.1.1 A general perspective on food-chain criticalities, 286

11.1.2 Primary and secondary sources of contamination, 287

11.1.3 Cost constraints of RFID implementation, 288

11.2 The role of RFID and sensor networks in good manufacturing practice compliance, 289

11.2.1 Buildings/facilities and equipment, 290

11.2.2 Personnel and quality assurance, 292

11.2.3 Processes, 294

11.2.4 Products, 295

11.2.5 Role and constraints of RFID in GMP compliance, 296

Index, 299

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