Turin Chamber of Commerce in Italy uses RFID high-frequency tags to track cheese
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After the two-year cheese production and transportation tracking pilot project ended, the Turin Chamber of Commerce in Italy began planning to adopt RFID and barcode technology on a large scale, with the goal of finally enabling consumers to view the history of cheese and milk sources.
During the project, the farmers of the dairy farm placed passive high-frequency RFID tags in each pie of cheese, and then used a handheld reader to read the tags. The corresponding information of each tag ID code was stored in a web-based server. When the second phase of the project is officially launched in 2011, the store will use handheld computers to record the time and date when the cheese arrives at the store and is placed on the market. Before buying, customers can take cheese to an RFID kiosk to learn more about the product. This system helps stores better manage cheese inventory, and in the future, farmers can obtain data on the milk production of each cow and the amount of cheese made from milk on the direct farm to understand the productivity of the cows. However, the most important advantage of the system is to match each pie of cheese in the store to its original source (forage for cows).
The University of Turin participates in the project and is responsible for researching the quality of forage and milk. It is also responsible for storing milk and cheese-related data on a server. The hardware company Logical Tag Technologies (LTT) provides tags and readers for two local farms-Gonnet Sabina and Aglì. The software compiles and stores the read data of the RFID tag. The project is managed by the Torino Wireless Fund, an organization that supports local technology research and development.
The goal of the cheese tracking project is to increase the value of cheese produced in the region by providing consumers with visibility into the source of the product and introducing traceability in the supply chain to ensure that the product can be quickly delivered to the retailer. Toma cheese produced by small mountain farms in the area is scarce and precious, and high-quality cheese makes consumers willing to spend more money to buy it. In order to allow customers to trace the source of the cheese and understand the quality of the cheese before purchasing, the Turin Chamber of Commerce has designed a wireless solution that can obtain and store the address and time of cheese manufacturing, as well as what the dairy cows that produce this cheese eat Forage and other data.
The ID code of each cheese label corresponds to the cow producing the cheese and the pastoral area
In 2008, the Chamber of Commerce launched the Trace Cheese project and hired Torino Wireless to deploy and manage a set of system tests. Through this system, dairy farms, Toma cheese producers, retailers and consumers can obtain product-related information on the server. The first year of the project includes planning and trial RFID hardware will be launched in the second quarter of cheese production.
The Forestry Department of the University of Turin provides the Trace Cheese server and studies the types and nutrients of forages in specific grazing areas. University researchers divided the grazing area into 5 geographical areas on the two farms, each took a grass sample, and then judged the type of the sample and analyzed their nutrient content. This information was input into the university software system, stored in the Trace Cheese server, and then 50 cattle participating in the project were allocated to various areas for grazing.
When the cow is milked, the output of each animal is recorded on the farm’s database and Trace Cheese server (a cow produces about 2-3 liters of milk per day). Scientists working in the chemistry laboratory of the Turin Chamber of Commerce test milk samples, and the milk data is entered into the Trace Cheese server. The two farms went on to make Toma cheese. The cheese is molded into 8-inch wide pie shapes (a single pie requires about 10 liters of milk and weighs about 2 pounds). When the cheese is mature, it requires an aging period of several months, and each cake is packed in paper. The farm affixed a passive 13.56 MHz RFID tag on the back of each pie cheese.
Famous Toma Cheese
The employee uses an LTT handheld RFID reader to obtain the unique ID code of each pie cheese label, and corresponds the ID code to the identity of the cow and the data of the grazing area. The researchers chose 5 loaves of Toma cheese for labeling-each representing a different grazing area. When the cheese cakes were delivered to a nearby store, their tags were read by a handheld reader again, and employees upgraded the status of each cake to indicate that they were sent away and their destination. Using the cellular connection, the handheld device sends data to the Trace Cheese server-the software will RFID read data related data-time, date and unique ID code-corresponding to the details of the product, so that project participants can view this information. Farmers and researchers participating in the project can log in to the server through the network with a password to obtain information. In the future, these data will also be available to retailers and customers.
The current project does not track the cheese after it arrives in the store, and the research team hopes to achieve this in 2011 as part of a large-scale application. In this way, when a loaf of Toma cheese arrives at the store, employees will use a handheld device to read the ID code of the tag. The label reading data will be stored in the Trace Cheese server, indicating the time and date the product was delivered. Store management will use this information to track cheese inventory to determine whether a certain batch of cheese has arrived, or whether it needs to be re-ordered, etc.
By 2011, consumers can bring a loaf of Toma cheese to a kiosk in the store, where an embedded RFID reader reads the cheese label (the kiosk can also scan the 2D barcode printed on the label). If a customer has a handheld device, he or she can use it to take a picture of the barcode and upload the picture to the Trace Cheese website, where the consumer can view the detailed information of the cheese and the milk source, as well as the nutritional content of the product, such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated products. The content of unsaturated fats. In addition, an RFID kiosk will be installed at EatalyNY next year to demonstrate RFID technology to customers in New York.
The biggest challenge initially encountered by the project was to determine the best location for the label application, according to Pasquale Marasco, a senior business analyst in the Business Promotion Department of Torino Wireless Fund. The research team initially hoped to place the label in the package and stick it on the cheese, so that the label would not be moved before sale. However, Marasco said that placing the label directly on the cheese would cause food contamination concerns. In the end, he said, the team chose to apply the label to the outer layer of the package through an adhesive at the mature stage.
“Through this project, we have generally confirmed that this technology can be applied to agricultural food products,” Marasco said. By further introducing the technology into the store, he said that the researchers and the Turin Chamber of Commerce hope to “realize the authenticity of the product and promote the product from a regional perspective.” The research team will decide the time and method of large-scale application in 2011.
In 2007, Torino Wireless worked with the Chamber of Commerce to test the use of RFID technology to track wine bottles. The system was tested in three Piedmont wine manufacturers, using 3r software and LTT passive tags and readers to track a certain number of bottles. The goal, Marasco said, is to determine whether passive 13.56 MHz RFID tags can be read in the supply chain environment and the results are satisfactory, he said.
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