Achieving Full Food Production Traceability with RFID

The risks of errors and product recalls in food manufacturing are massive, not just for consumers who could be at risk, but for companies that could stand to lose tens of millions of dollars from the total cost and related losses from a single event.

In fact, one industry analyst estimated that the average cost of a single food recall incident is $10 million. But the long-term damage to a company’s brand and value can take an even bigger hit. A past study published in the Food Policy journal found that a major Class I food safety recall could erase approximately $109 million in shareholder value in just five days.

But, as we’ve pointed out in our previous article on food traceability in manufacturing, the complexities of food production are making it harder and harder for companies to maintain true quality control and traceability in their operations.

However, the good news is that there are smart ways to get ahead of that complexity and reduce risks by creating more automated, accurate, and reliable ways to track and trace food production for improved quality and control.

Tackling the Complexity of Food Manufacturing Traceability and Control

Nearly all food manufacturing is now long and multi-staged, with a number of processing and production stages that food products must pass through before they’re ultimately packaged, shipped, and distributed.

For example, one large-scale manufacturing facility might produce hundreds of products including meat, dairy, fish, baked goods, and beverages. So, it might need to bring in an array of raw food, materials, and ingredients into cold-storage warehouses before they’re delivered to the factory floor.

But just one product might need to pass through multiple stages, such as meat products that have to pass through:

• Mincing

• Emulsion

• Preparation

• Forming

• Thermal cooking

• Inspection

• Packaging

In many plants, all of those incoming deliveries, products, inventory, movements, and processes are tracked manually either by hand, on paper, or with barcoding, spreadsheets, or other basic digital tools. But every one of those manual tracking processes creates a potential failure point where one mistake, one missed scan, or one oversight with traceability, product IDs, lot codes, temperature control, or expiration dates could cause a major production mistake or food safety issue.

Potential allergens, mismatches of ingredients, spoilage, growth of bacteria, or many other potential issues can occur when you don’t have a true, real-time, and accurate account of everything that’s moving into your facilities and through every stage of storage, staging, and production.

This is where RFID, or radio frequency identification, offers one of the best ways to start tracking and tracing your food production with more fully automated, real-time, and digital accuracy.

How RFID Automates Traceability, Providing Real-Time and Accurate Visibility

Many food manufacturers are now replacing their outdated, paper-based tracking and documents or barcode-based systems with RFID, which allows them to identify, track, and trace items, locations, processes, and their status wirelessly and automatically.

RFID tags are small, inexpensive labels that can be attached to individual food items, boxes, containers, pallets, bins, packaging, or other targets, and they are read wirelessly via radio waves. An RFID reader sends energy to the tags through the radio waves, waking up the tags and allowing them to transmit their identifying information and location to the reader.

This allows any tagged item to be read, traced, and tracked without manual scans and with digital, precise accuracy and automation. It works at scale, too, with the ability to read thousands of tags in just seconds.

So, instead of your warehouse or production teams spending hours trying to verify and track things on paper or by aiming, lining up, and triggering barcode scans, RFID can automatically detect, identify, and verify tens of thousands of inbound or in-process items in just minutes.

In fact, forwarding-thinking plants have installed fully automated Zebra RFID systems that use fixed-position RFID readers in the ceiling of their warehouses and plants, or at other strategic locations, to automatically read tags as items or containers arrive at each key stage in their process.

Specialized RFID tags for these use cases are able to withstand the extremes of freezers, thermal chambers, and even facility processes and cleaning that require daily washing with chemicals, sanitizers, and high-pressure water.

This is a game-changer for food manufacturers, who are able to automate their tracking and traceability and redirect their labor to other, more value-added tasks.

For example, some food manufacturers have set up Zebra RFID systems with tags attached to every container that brings raw food products or ingredients to each production stage. At each key point, whether at scales, processing machines, or between chambers, the system identifies what’s arriving, verifies it against production plans, and checks its quantity and type.

If the wrong product or ingredient reaches the wrong machine, lights and audible alerts are triggered to notify operators before those incorrect materials enter production. And every discrepancy is automatically logged.

In cases where that kind of large-scale, fully-automated infrastructure doesn’t fit a company’s budget or needs, handheld RFID readers can be used as a more affordable option. This allows workers to trigger a read from a handheld mobile computer that can also read RFID tags and barcodes, or from a gun-style RFID sled that first their smartphone or similar handheld industrial computer.

In either case, large volumes of tags are still read wirelessly and automatically, even if they’re not immediately visible or beneath packaging or inside containers. And it all happens in just seconds, providing crucial identification, verification, traceability and accuracy without error-prone paperwork or manual barcode scans.

To print and apply RFID tags to whatever needs to be tracked, Zebra makes industrial-grade RFID printers that print and encode the required labels.

Each tag works with RFID readers and related RFID software to:

• Automatically identify tagged items

• Capture dates, lot codes, and batch numbers

• Connect products to specific inbound shipments and sources

• Verify and match items with storage, prep, or production processes

• Log, verify, and update item quantities

• Identify mismatches or errors and trigger automated alerts

• Capture each item’s current location to within a few feet

• Ensure proper and safe handling, storage, and preparation

• Provide full visibility into an item’s production history

It’s a huge automation and traceability advantage at a time when many food manufacturers are grappling with increased food production complexity, consumer demands for food safety, and compliance requirements. But RFID helps simplify all of this by providing the real-time visibility and traceability to ensure the highest safety and quality as well as FDA and FSMA compliance.

Explore RFID-Automated Food Traceability with Our Experts.

Want to learn more about RFID systems for automated food traceability? Visit our RFID Food Traceability Page for more helpful articles and resources and schedule a full demo and walkthrough with our technology experts at Summit.

We’ll show you how this technology is used in real-world food manufacturing plants, help you determine if it’s the right fit for your needs, and provide insights and tips on what’s needed, the costs, and how to get started.