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RFID ink injections for tracking meat, lasers for detecting rot

From "Developer targets injectable RFID ink at meat market," by Ahmed El-Amin, Food Production Daily, 11 January 2007:

"A biocompatible radio-frequency identification (RFID) ink would allow processors to track individual cuts of meat or vegetables, allowing them to make speedy recalls during food contamination outbreaks.

"Somark Innovations said this week it successfully tested its chipless RFID ink on cattle and laboratory rats. 'The test proved the efficacy of injecting and reading a biocompatible chipless RFID ink 'tattoo' within the skin of animals,' the company claimed.

"RFID has long been touted as the future of logistics for all companies by allowing retailers and suppliers to track goods throughout the supply chain. Regulations on traceability and mandates from such giant retailers as Wal-Mart and Metro are [slowly] forcing processors to make investments in the technology.

"Somark said its RFID ink will initially target the livestock industry to help identify and track cattle, as required under rules put in place to prevent the spread of losses from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

"The tests show that once injected into a live animal as a tattoo, scanners can still read the RFID data through the hair. Somark's technology involves the use of an injection device made up of an array of needles and an ink capsule, which is used to 'tattoo' an animal. The ink can be detected from four feet away, and can either be invisible or coloured depending on the application.

" 'This is a true proof-of-principle and mitigates most of the technological risk,' said Somark's chief scientist Ramos Mays. 'This proves the ability to create a synthetic biometric or fake fingerprint with biocompatible chipless RFID ink and read it through hair.'

"The company also expects the RFID ink to be of use in tracking prime cuts of meat. In an interview with Information Age magazine, one of the company's executives said the technology could verify that cuts of meat originated in a hormone-free environment.

"When eating the meat consumers would break down the ink, which they say does not affect health. It could also be used to trace vegetables..."
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From "German project to create meat analysis RFID," by George Reynolds, Food Production Daily, 8 January 2007:

"Researchers in Germany are developing radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that will measure and transmit the quality and condition of meat as well as enable processors to identify products throughout the supply chain.

"The research comes as new regulations oblige processors to track ingredients from their immediate suppliers and the products to their retail or distribution points. The requirements have pushed organisations to search for technological solutions allowing them to track and record items. Recent scares involving food, notably the case where German authorities uncovered 110 tons of rotten meat at several warehouses destined for European Union consumers, have also prompted organizations to find ways to prevent such abuses in the future.

"The FreshScan, a €3 million project funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), is being coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Micro-integration (IZM) in Berlin, which focuses on assembly and packaging technologies. The three-year project, which began in mid-2006 aims to develop a two-component system consisting of a semi-active RFID tag with temperature sensors to monitor the condition of meat, and record temperatures on a continual basis. The second part is an RFID reader with an optical detector. The device uses a laser to analyse the light spectrum in which chemical changes of meat can be detected. The condition [is] recorded in the RFID tag.

"Processors will attached the tag inside meat's packaging, and the sensor on the RFID tag will take temperature, moisture and light incidence reading during intervals, recording this information on the tag. At any points during the supply chain the condition of the meat and the conditions the meat has been subjected to will be available to processors...

"The project is still at the conceptual stage and no commercial partners are currently involved. When the project is complete, developers hope to have a working demonstration model that will need commercial backing to bring to market.

"The development could also be useful for ensuring the credibility of the EU's geographical indications certification system, which protects producers of traditional foods."

[RFID - 11 January 2007]