Food company pilots UHF RFID technology to improve pig life cycle management
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RFID technology can help the food industry better monitor animal health and meat storage. For this purpose, the T?nniesLivestock business unit of the German food industry company has developed an ultra-high frequency (UHF) system for tracking pigs using passive RFID tags and card readers and using its own software to manage the collected data.
Since February 2016, T?nnies has started to test the technology together with the breeding pig and genetic company Topigs Norsvin, and is expected to complete the test next month. The organization has used RFID technology in the fTrace system, a system used to capture and store slaughtered pig-related data and provide it to consumers. On the other hand, RFID data can track the whole process of pigs from birth to slaughter. The RFID data will be stored on the IQ cloud software based on IQ-Agrar Service GmbH.
(fTrace system can track the whole life cycle of pigs)
T?nnies Livestock, a subsidiary of the T?nnies Group, is responsible for managing the pork supply at the T?nnies slaughterhouse based on customer needs. T?nnies Livestock cooperates with many farms and producers to supervise pig breeding and related data management. The business department of T?nnies is responsible for developing new technologies and promoting the production and sales of meat products.
Since the late 1990s, the business group began to use RFID slaughter hooks and gradually improved data collection. The collected data is used to create a pig ID card, which contains information about the source of the animal, the time and location of slaughter, and the time of food manufacturing and packaging.
In the recent RFID pilots, the focus is on the growth process of pigs, thereby helping the basic supply chain. These data will be shared by pig breeding companies, piglet companies, slaughterhouses and marketing agencies. For producers, these data can help them understand the entire life cycle of the pig and thus understand how to improve the production or finishing process. T?nnies Livestock agency can use this information to ensure the health of animals.
The RFID pilot uses UHF RFID ear tags and a handheld RFID reader provided by agricultural technology company MS Schippers. IQ-Agrar Service GmbH provides cloud software for managing RFID reading data.
First, when about 1,000 piglets were born a few days later, the staff attached button UHF tags to the ears of each piglet. The unique ID number of each tag is bound to specific piglet information. This information is stored in the IQ-Agrar software. In addition, the staff also used a handheld reader to read the tag from 2 meters away, and then the IQ-Agrar software would bind it to the pig ID card. When weighing, feeding or administering medicine, workers will use a card reader to read the ear tags, and then transmit them to the server via a WiFi connection.
When transported to the slaughterhouse, the pigs will be placed on a truck. T?nnies installed a fixed RFID reader and antenna on the truck to read the pigs on the truck. When being slaughtered, the tags are read again, creating a complete life cycle.
T?nnies Livestock management manager Heiner Str?mer said that after slaughter, this information can be accessed by producers and other stakeholders. In this way, they can analyze and adjust their production processes, such as the amount of feed or medicine used.
Str?mer reports that the results of the pilot show that RFID technology is more efficient than traditional manual methods. He said: “First of all, each pig has a unique identification, which contains all life cycle data. The data will help relevant parties to improve.”
Elmerhaus said that the pilot process encountered many challenges. The environment in which the pig grows can cause damage to the label. This is also the reason for choosing UHF RFID tags. This tag is more durable than HF RFID tags and barcodes.
Str?mer said that if the system works well, the company will carry out permanent deployment and share technology with farmers. At the same time, T?nnies also plans to introduce new partners in the pig food chain, such as wild boar farms, sow owners and pig farms.
(Exclusive manuscript of rfid world network, please indicate the source author for reprinting!)
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