Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

1. Project background

In recent years, many food safety incidents have occurred frequently, seriously threatening the health of consumers, attracting widespread attention around the world, and affecting the healthy, sustainable and stable development of the food industry. How to ensure the safety of the food supply chain has become an urgent global issue that needs to be solved. Traditional food quality inspection methods have problems such as lag in management, low efficiency and high error rate. Using RFID technology to establish a safe food supply chain system can effectively solve the above problems. The RFID system can provide a reliable link between food and its source in the food supply chain, ensuring that the source of food arriving on supermarket shelves and kitchens is clear, and can be traced to production companies and even individual animals, plants and specific processing operators.

"Food is the first priority for the people, and food safety is the first priority." The application of RFID technology in safe food supply chains can help food companies strengthen food safety management, stabilize and expand consumer groups, and enhance market competition. Strength; from the perspective of the food supply chain, it creates an environment where consumers can consume with confidence, establishes a good image, and effectively improves the service level of the entire supply chain. Although there are still some problems that need to be solved in the application of RFID, its application prospects are very broad.

2. Problems in food safety

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In recent years, our country has entered a period of frequent food safety incidents. Food safety issues were listed as one of the top ten hot issues in Chinese business in 2009. Bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease, inferior milk powder, the Japanese poisonous dumpling incident and the recent Hainan poisonous cowpea incident... There are so many "problem foods", the scope is wide, and the consequences are serious, it has reached the point where people talk about "food". situation. Food safety still has problems such as excessive standards, lack of laws and regulations, incomplete testing and environmental protection systems, and imperfect supervision and traceability information platforms. Consumer trust in the safety of any category of food is low. One after another food safety issues are severely damaging people's confidence in eating... What's wrong with China's food?

What else can we eat tomorrow? How to find effective tracking, management, traceability and evaluation methods to ensure safety is an important issue that needs to be solved urgently in China's current food safety issues.

3. Application of RFID technology in food safety management at home and abroad

Many developed countries attach great importance to food safety. In addition to establishing relevant legal systems, they also adopt high-tech means to manage food safety. For example, Japan has established a "food ID Card system" product history and tracking and monitoring system, which requires production, circulation, etc. Various departments widely use RFID electronic tag technology and barcode technology to record in detail the data in the product production and circulation process.

A cattle tracking system has been established in Europe. In September 1998, the United Kingdom announced a cattle tracking system plan. By the end of 1999, all member states of the European Community had implemented this system plan. The British government stipulated that on July 1, 2000 Cattle born or imported after the date must use an identification system, and RFID electronic tags must be installed within 20 days after the cow is born to record all the birth, import, activities, vaccines, diseases and death of each cow. With the economic benefits generated by the application of RFID technology in European food safety management, in June 2001, European customers began to emphasize the convenience of logistics, transportation and traceability of fresh agricultural products, requiring the use of EAN/UCC-128 on packaging. Barcode, the European Food Safety Directive was promulgated in January 2005, and the traceability requirements for fresh food came into effect. New Zealand kiwifruit was approved for sale on European supermarket shelves in 2005. In 2003, the UK implemented pig identification standards. On January 1, 2008, European regulations made electronic identification of sheep mandatory.

The application of RFID technology in food safety management in my country

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

In my country, RFID technology has also been used in food safety tracking management and has received strong support from many local governments. In May 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the "Animal Immunization Labeling Management Measures" stipulating that pigs, cattle, and sheep must wear immune ear tags. Establish an immunization File management system. The "Food Safety Early Warning and Origin Traceability Control System for Hong Kong" implemented in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, in order to ensure the safety of food supplied to Hong Kong, the system uses RFID radio frequency identification technology for food breeding, production, processing, transportation, wholesale, port inspection, retail and other aspects. The RFID electronic tags attached to the outer packaging of food contain food testing information, food growth, production information, storage and transportation packaging information. Hong Kong citizens can use electronic tag readers to trace the source of food and other information. When purchasing food, More assured. In Shouguang Vegetables, Shandong Province, a province-wide food safety and quality database has been established with the help of the golden Engineering network platform of the Shandong Provincial Quality Supervision System to provide consumers with dynamic and authoritative food quality traceability information. Sichuan pig breeding and Zhejiang aquatic product exports have successively established RFID traceability systems for food safety management, effectively ensuring local food safety supervision. These pilot projects have greatly promoted the establishment of my country's food safety traceability system.

4. Food safety quality traceability analysis

At present, there are not many means for safety management of the food supply chain. Traditional methods cannot achieve traceability management. Barcode technology is used in some food industries for safety traceability. However, this method generally uses manual methods to read barcodes at close range, which makes it impossible to obtain quality information of large quantities of food in real time and quickly, and it is also unable to provide real-time records of the environmental information of the food during the circulation process.

In order to eliminate food safety hazards and trace the processing, transportation or storage links where loopholes occur, these processes need to be traced. There are two methods to achieve food safety management in specific applications:

◎ Trace from top to bottom

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

This method is mainly used to find the cause of quality problems and determine the origin and characteristics of the product;

◎Tracing from bottom to top

If consumers find safety issues with the food they buy at POS points of sale, they can go up to the next level to ultimately determine where the problem lies. This method is mainly used for the recall of problematic products.

5. System technical solutions

5.1. Working principle

After the electronic tag reader 1 starts working, it sends an instruction to the antenna 2 to read the tag 3. After receiving the radio wave energy from the antenna 2, the electronic tag 3 on the food 4 sends the serial number information to the antenna 2, and the antenna 2 receives this signal. , and transmits this signal to the reader 1. The reader processes the received signal accordingly and then transmits it to the data processing chip 5 integrated in the reader. At the same time, various nodes distributed in this circulation link The sensors 6 respectively send the measured surrounding environment information to the data processing chip 5. The data processing chip 5 comprehensively processes the received information, and then sends the processing results to the food safety database 8 through the communication network 7.

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

5.2. System architecture

The system consists of electronic tags, antennas, readers, sensors for detecting external environmental parameters, food safety databases, food safety assessment algorithms and corresponding service networks. Its outstanding features are the electronic tags affixed to food packaging; temperature, humidity, Illumination and other sensors; use the RFID public service system to form a food safety management system, a quality assessment system and a traceability system based on food quality information and environmental data.

Schematic diagram of RFID food safety management system architecture. The electronic label is affixed to the food or food packaging box, the reader is connected to the antenna, the sensor is integrated with the reader, and the data packets it reads are transmitted to the food safety management database through the network, and the manufacturers and products in each link of the food supply chain The information is registered in the RFID public service system. Based on the food safety management database, through the integration of supply chain information, the system provides food information services, food safety traceability, food quality assessment and other application services.

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

The food safety management database is the basis for the system to implement functions and services. It establishes a data record for each food corresponding to the electronic tag to describe its operators and environmental parameters in various circulation links such as food processing, transportation and warehouses. , processing method and time and other information.

During the production of food raw materials, livestock raised on pastures record information such as feed and vaccines, and agricultural products grown on farms record variety, fertilization and other information. This information is transmitted to the food safety management system through the network and written into the database.

During the production and processing of food, unique RFID electronic tags are embedded on the surface or packaging materials. The encoding format and number of digits are determined by the national food safety standards. The manufacturer reads the electronic tags through a reader. The network writes various information that can affect the quality of the food into the food safety database, such as the source of raw materials, processing technology, name of the processor, product quality information, recommended consumption period, consumption method, etc.

5.3. Application services

Based on the integration of food safety management database and food supply chain information, the system can provide the following services.

(1) Food information service

Users can enjoy food information services through inquiries. At the dining table, you can get the origin, producer (processor), production date, chef, cooking method and other information of each dish; when shopping in the supermarket, you can get the flow information and safety information of the purchased food.

(2) Food safety traceability

Once an epidemic breaks out, the food safety management system can quickly find information such as the product sales place, responsible person, and product origin. Not only can the final consumer of each piece of food be found according to the food safety traceability system, but also the circulation or production processing can be found. If problems arise during the process, appropriate measures will be taken.

(3) Terminal query system

Supermarkets are the main channel for consumers to purchase food. Consumers can check the information of the food they purchased on the RFID electronic tag query terminal provided by the supermarket or the manufacturer.

6. Application of RFID in vegetable supply chain

6.1. Various links in the vegetable supply chain

The vegetable supply chain, like most agricultural product supply chains, also includes several links such as production, processing, warehousing, transportation and sales. The key to improving the efficiency of the fresh vegetable supply chain is also how to coordinate several links and how to improve the efficiency of each link. The current domestic supply of fresh vegetables is shown in the figure below.

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

From the overall vegetable supply chain, we can see that by using RFID technology, the information of each link in the entire supply chain can be easily read into the public database, and each link can also easily add data of the corresponding link. Consumers and relevant authorities can also conduct inquiries and traceability through communication networks and terminals.

6.2. Production process

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

The production link mainly refers to relatively large-scale and standardized vegetable planting bases. Such production bases generally implement large-scale planting and intensive operations, and have the conditions to adopt RFID technology.

A label can be set for each plot or variety, and the necessary information in the entire process from planting to packaging of vegetables of this plot or variety can be entered in time through reading or input equipment, such as vegetable varieties. , growth time, name and number of pesticides sprayed, chemical fertilizers used, harvest time, etc., and even a description of the characteristics of the variety. According to the agricultural product coding standards, a number is set for each type of vegetable as a unique identifier of its identity. In this way, when the vegetable of this variety completes the first link of the supply chain, the electronic tag has already Stored all its basic information. When the purchasing company purchases vegetable varieties in any plot, by using a data collector to collect information on agricultural products and agricultural products, it not only speeds up the acquisition and reduces the error rate, but also provides agricultural product processing companies with POS systems, EDI ( Electronic customs clearance system), drug residue testing system, e-commerce and other systems provide source data for product traceability. Take the onions grown in a certain planting base in a certain place as an example. The content contained in their electronic labels.

6.3. Processing links

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

Since electronic labels can easily add information, during the processing process, the information contained in the electronic labels can be read first. Processing enterprises can add necessary information according to their own needs and the requirements of relevant competent authorities, such as processing units, processing dates, processing Additives used in the process, packaging weight, etc. After the processing company's data has been enriched, the origin information and processing link information have been stored in the electronic tag. When the end consumer queries the product information through the inquiry terminal in the retail or wholesale market, he can get all the relevant information. It has also become easy and feasible to trace back after the accident.

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

6.4. Warehousing link

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

As a seasonal product, vegetables have high requirements on the warehouse environment. Especially when the warehouse environment is not good, the storage time of vegetables in the warehouse should be reduced. For vegetables that need to be stored in the warehouse, they must be electronically tagged before being stored. Data is read, and the packaging specifications and packaging weight are automatically read into the computer. After processing by the computer, inventory information is formed according to the characteristics of the warehouse, and instructions for the storage area, shelves, and cargo locations are output. During the inventory, the terminal reads the electronic tag on the vegetable packaging and records the inventory quantity in real time. After the on-site counting is completed, the counting personnel confirm the counted quantity and upload it to the back-end database. The backend database compares the data uploaded in real time with the data in the system. If there is any surprise in the quantity, the system will automatically generate an inventory list difference table, and then submit the data to the superior or instruct the terminal to repeat the inventory. There is no need for too much manual work when leaving the warehouse. Participate to automatically make changes to inventory data. The use of RFID technology not only greatly speeds up the entry and exit of warehouses and warehouse inventory, and reduces the error rate, it also provides convenience for using computers for inventory management and improving the automation of warehouse management.

6.5. Transportation link

The application of RFID technology in the transportation of fresh vegetables is mainly reflected in the monitoring, tracking and port inspection of goods in transit. Combining RFID technology with GPS can provide real-time monitoring and tracking services for logistics companies. At the same time, owners can easily know where their goods have arrived through the computer network. When passing through the port for inspection, the inspection unit does not need to When unpacking vegetables, you can know the specific contents of the packaged products through a handheld reader, which greatly improves the speed of port inspection and relieves port congestion pressure.

6.6. Sales link

Application and solutions of RFID in vegetable supply chain

The application of RFID technology in the retail sector is reflected in theft prevention of unit packaged vegetables in retail stores or supermarkets, vegetable expiration date monitoring and temporary sales, etc. RFID anti-theft technology puts electronic tags into product packaging, and the computer system monitors the tags of various products in the store in real time through on-site readers and other supporting facilities. In this way, retailers can safely open shelves for sales. RFID electronic tags can monitor the expiration date of certain time-sensitive products, such as tracking a certain food. Once the expiration date is exceeded, the tag will sound an alarm.

The application of RFID technology in the fresh vegetable supply chain can not only ensure high-quality data exchange in the supply chain, but also achieve food "

"Source" tracking and complete transparency of the vegetable supply chain. This is because the RFID system provides a detailed and unique perspective of the supply chain by providing individual identification and storage and transportation history for each vegetable product, ensuring that it reaches the supermarket shelf. The origin of vegetable products in Restaurant kitchens is clear.