David Savastano, Editor03.31.16
With stories about illnesses caused by food spoilage appearing in the media on a frequent basis, it would seem that monitoring food shipments and packaging would be of the utmost importance.
Due to new developments that are being made in the field of RFID, sensors and printed electronics, the food we are buying in the supermarket is more rigorously monitored today than ever before.
Smart labels and tags are allowing retailers to keep a close watch on perishable food items such as meat, dairy and produce as they proceed through the supply chain from the farm to the retailer. Kaz Lawler, CTO of PakSense, said he is “absolutely” seeing more interest in the ability to monitor food safety and temperatures.
“We have experienced a large increase in business from customers who are preparing for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and automating their systems in general,” Lawler noted. “FSMA was signed into law by President Obama in 2011, and FDA is currently releasing enforceable rules surrounding FSMA.
Lawler noted that the rule PakSense anticipates impacting its customers most is the Sanitary Transport of Human & Animal Food.
“It requires more in-depth record keeping, expanded maintenance of the cold chain, more detailed procedures for loading and unloading, and standard processes for the exchange of information,” Lawler added. “This rule addresses how food is monitored in transit and how information between all stakeholders – including suppliers, carriers, and retailers - is shared. The rule will be released in March 2016 with mandatory compliance for large companies by March 2017.
“This increased interest in food supply chain monitoring has resulted in increased inquiries and sales of our AutoSense system,” added Lawler. “Our AutoSense system automates the retrieval, preparation and distribution of temperature data.”
Mark Wheeler, director of supply chain solutions, Zebra Technologies, also discussed the impact of FSMA.
“FSMA has put the focus on prevention in food safety, and Zebra is working with customers both in the supply chain and in food processing on their food safety initiatives,” Wheeler noted.
“Much of that effort involves ensuring that the temperatures to which foods are subjected during storage, transportation and in processing are within specifications,” he concluded. “Perishable foods including produce and seafood can be significantly impacted by a small lapse in cold chain management.”
Su Doyle, industry programs manager at Checkpoint Systems, also reported increased interest, particularly from grocery retailers in North America and Europe.
“According to Supermarket News, 95% of US grocery stores have a butcher on-site,” Doyle noted. “Fresh meat is packaged and tracked very carefully, and butchers are responsible for performance metrics including shrink, profitability and sales.”
Jeremy Schenof, senior director, Global RFID Solutions for Avery Dennison, reported that the interest for RFID in food is in three areas: using UHF RFID to improve delivery accuracy for perishable foods in the distribution center (DC); using UHF RFID to better manage food shelf life and waste in grocery stores/supermarkets; and combining NFC with time-temperature sensors to monitor the food cold chain. He added that RFID is being used in-store for preventing food waste, primarily for meat and ready-made meals, and for perishable foods in the DC.
“You have visibility of product life throughout the chain,” Schenof said.
Produce, meat and dairy products are key areas where monitoring food packaging is important.
“Suppliers of produce, meat, seafood and dairy are big adopters of PakSense monitoring systems,” Lawler noted. “Some of this adoption is driven by the retailer as they develop and roll out expanded quality programs.”
Implementing Systems throughout the Supply Chain
Each of the manufacturers said that they are seeing increased interest in tracking food throughout the supply chain.
“We have talked with food retailers and suppliers about cold chain tracking for some time,” said Doyle. “Right now, fresh item tracking within stores is getting more traction, since it is a ‘closed loop’ system that can be easily monitored with immediate benefit. We expect cold chain tracking adoption to increase as more suppliers start source tagging.”
“Cold chain is one of the fastest growing segments in food,” Wheeler said. “As more retailers are processing food, constant monitoring is needed to ensure safety and quality. Zebra has solutions that can give real-time visibility to the condition and temperature of items end-to-end in the supply chain. By connecting smart labels directly to the cloud through our Zatar IoT platform, customers can see what is happening with shipments in the field.
“In addition, there are risk management benefits both from a regulatory perspective and for brand protection while there is a business imperative to reduce waste,” Wheeler added.
Lawler said that PakSense is seeing an increased implementation of continuous cold chain monitoring throughout the supply chain.
“Labels are placed on perishable loads to monitor temperatures,” said Lawler. “When the loads are received, the labels are automatically detected by the AutoSense Reader and the cold chain data is automatically forwarded to pre-defined users via email or text. The data delivered includes the supplier name, product description, temperature alert condition, receiving location, high/low/average temperatures, and a temperature graph. Data can also be forwarded to a central repository for ongoing carrier, supplier and route analysis as part of an overall business intelligence strategy.”
Challenges in Monitoring Food Packaging
With all of the interest in monitoring food packaging, there are still challenges in the field, particularly in the area of data analysis.
Doyle said that the more handoffs in the supply chain, the more parties are involved. “Industry associations including FMI, GMA and GS1 are establishing data standards and operational best practices to streamline the tracking process,” added Doyle. “In stores, fresh meat is usually received, cut and packaged within the butcher shop, so there is process control in place.”
“As we continue to develop solutions providing greater resolution and broader visibility to the supply chain, we are faced with translating that raw data into something meaningful and profitable to our customers,” Lawler noted. “We are working closely with our customers, strategic partners, and data scientists to provide actionable information and intelligence to our customers.”
“Most monitoring today is of the shipping container rather than the product itself,” said Wheeler. “But with new smart tags, the actual temperature that the item is subjected to can be monitored in a more granular way. This information can then be uploaded in real-time or upon arrival at the destination facility.”
Outlook for Food Packaging
As the public grows more interested in safety of food packaging, there will be more opportunities for companies providing monitoring solutions.
“The outlook for PakSense systems is very good, given the industry movement towards automated systems along with increasing regulatory requirements,” Lawler said. “At PakSense, we look forward to integrating our technologies throughout the supply chain down to the item and package level.”
“We can expect the cost/performance of temperature monitoring solutions to continue to improve,” said Wheeler. “Also, the IoT model for capturing data and making it available immediately to cloud-based mobile apps is just getting started and has strong potential for growth.”
“Food monitoring will become more customer-facing over time, as consumers want to know where their food comes from and how it is processed,” Doyle said. “The GS1 Smart Label program is a good step in that direction, and we can see even more benefit in RFID tracking ‘from Farm to Fork.’”
“RFID gives retailers the opportunity to check that they have the right products, the right quantities and most importantly, the right dates, at every stage of the chain, at minimum labor costs,” Schenof said. “The use of RFID technology will continue to grow, and eventually we believe the food industry will be one of the biggest users.
“Right now, RFID technology is used in more than about 50% of leading apparel, department store and mass merchant retailers globally,” Schenof added. “We see a future in which RFID technology is able to help food retailers reduce in-store waste by 20% and improve efficiency, all while being able to track every aspect of food manufacture and distribution from farm to fork.”
Due to new developments that are being made in the field of RFID, sensors and printed electronics, the food we are buying in the supermarket is more rigorously monitored today than ever before.
Smart labels and tags are allowing retailers to keep a close watch on perishable food items such as meat, dairy and produce as they proceed through the supply chain from the farm to the retailer. Kaz Lawler, CTO of PakSense, said he is “absolutely” seeing more interest in the ability to monitor food safety and temperatures.
“We have experienced a large increase in business from customers who are preparing for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and automating their systems in general,” Lawler noted. “FSMA was signed into law by President Obama in 2011, and FDA is currently releasing enforceable rules surrounding FSMA.
Lawler noted that the rule PakSense anticipates impacting its customers most is the Sanitary Transport of Human & Animal Food.
“It requires more in-depth record keeping, expanded maintenance of the cold chain, more detailed procedures for loading and unloading, and standard processes for the exchange of information,” Lawler added. “This rule addresses how food is monitored in transit and how information between all stakeholders – including suppliers, carriers, and retailers - is shared. The rule will be released in March 2016 with mandatory compliance for large companies by March 2017.
“This increased interest in food supply chain monitoring has resulted in increased inquiries and sales of our AutoSense system,” added Lawler. “Our AutoSense system automates the retrieval, preparation and distribution of temperature data.”
Mark Wheeler, director of supply chain solutions, Zebra Technologies, also discussed the impact of FSMA.
“FSMA has put the focus on prevention in food safety, and Zebra is working with customers both in the supply chain and in food processing on their food safety initiatives,” Wheeler noted.
“Much of that effort involves ensuring that the temperatures to which foods are subjected during storage, transportation and in processing are within specifications,” he concluded. “Perishable foods including produce and seafood can be significantly impacted by a small lapse in cold chain management.”
Su Doyle, industry programs manager at Checkpoint Systems, also reported increased interest, particularly from grocery retailers in North America and Europe.
“According to Supermarket News, 95% of US grocery stores have a butcher on-site,” Doyle noted. “Fresh meat is packaged and tracked very carefully, and butchers are responsible for performance metrics including shrink, profitability and sales.”
Jeremy Schenof, senior director, Global RFID Solutions for Avery Dennison, reported that the interest for RFID in food is in three areas: using UHF RFID to improve delivery accuracy for perishable foods in the distribution center (DC); using UHF RFID to better manage food shelf life and waste in grocery stores/supermarkets; and combining NFC with time-temperature sensors to monitor the food cold chain. He added that RFID is being used in-store for preventing food waste, primarily for meat and ready-made meals, and for perishable foods in the DC.
“You have visibility of product life throughout the chain,” Schenof said.
Produce, meat and dairy products are key areas where monitoring food packaging is important.
“Suppliers of produce, meat, seafood and dairy are big adopters of PakSense monitoring systems,” Lawler noted. “Some of this adoption is driven by the retailer as they develop and roll out expanded quality programs.”
Implementing Systems throughout the Supply Chain
Each of the manufacturers said that they are seeing increased interest in tracking food throughout the supply chain.
“We have talked with food retailers and suppliers about cold chain tracking for some time,” said Doyle. “Right now, fresh item tracking within stores is getting more traction, since it is a ‘closed loop’ system that can be easily monitored with immediate benefit. We expect cold chain tracking adoption to increase as more suppliers start source tagging.”
“Cold chain is one of the fastest growing segments in food,” Wheeler said. “As more retailers are processing food, constant monitoring is needed to ensure safety and quality. Zebra has solutions that can give real-time visibility to the condition and temperature of items end-to-end in the supply chain. By connecting smart labels directly to the cloud through our Zatar IoT platform, customers can see what is happening with shipments in the field.
“In addition, there are risk management benefits both from a regulatory perspective and for brand protection while there is a business imperative to reduce waste,” Wheeler added.
Lawler said that PakSense is seeing an increased implementation of continuous cold chain monitoring throughout the supply chain.
“Labels are placed on perishable loads to monitor temperatures,” said Lawler. “When the loads are received, the labels are automatically detected by the AutoSense Reader and the cold chain data is automatically forwarded to pre-defined users via email or text. The data delivered includes the supplier name, product description, temperature alert condition, receiving location, high/low/average temperatures, and a temperature graph. Data can also be forwarded to a central repository for ongoing carrier, supplier and route analysis as part of an overall business intelligence strategy.”
Challenges in Monitoring Food Packaging
With all of the interest in monitoring food packaging, there are still challenges in the field, particularly in the area of data analysis.
Doyle said that the more handoffs in the supply chain, the more parties are involved. “Industry associations including FMI, GMA and GS1 are establishing data standards and operational best practices to streamline the tracking process,” added Doyle. “In stores, fresh meat is usually received, cut and packaged within the butcher shop, so there is process control in place.”
“As we continue to develop solutions providing greater resolution and broader visibility to the supply chain, we are faced with translating that raw data into something meaningful and profitable to our customers,” Lawler noted. “We are working closely with our customers, strategic partners, and data scientists to provide actionable information and intelligence to our customers.”
“Most monitoring today is of the shipping container rather than the product itself,” said Wheeler. “But with new smart tags, the actual temperature that the item is subjected to can be monitored in a more granular way. This information can then be uploaded in real-time or upon arrival at the destination facility.”
Outlook for Food Packaging
As the public grows more interested in safety of food packaging, there will be more opportunities for companies providing monitoring solutions.
“The outlook for PakSense systems is very good, given the industry movement towards automated systems along with increasing regulatory requirements,” Lawler said. “At PakSense, we look forward to integrating our technologies throughout the supply chain down to the item and package level.”
“We can expect the cost/performance of temperature monitoring solutions to continue to improve,” said Wheeler. “Also, the IoT model for capturing data and making it available immediately to cloud-based mobile apps is just getting started and has strong potential for growth.”
“Food monitoring will become more customer-facing over time, as consumers want to know where their food comes from and how it is processed,” Doyle said. “The GS1 Smart Label program is a good step in that direction, and we can see even more benefit in RFID tracking ‘from Farm to Fork.’”
“RFID gives retailers the opportunity to check that they have the right products, the right quantities and most importantly, the right dates, at every stage of the chain, at minimum labor costs,” Schenof said. “The use of RFID technology will continue to grow, and eventually we believe the food industry will be one of the biggest users.
“Right now, RFID technology is used in more than about 50% of leading apparel, department store and mass merchant retailers globally,” Schenof added. “We see a future in which RFID technology is able to help food retailers reduce in-store waste by 20% and improve efficiency, all while being able to track every aspect of food manufacture and distribution from farm to fork.”
