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The Italian Ham Producers Association in San Daniele recently completed the initial phase of an RFID pilot project. The goal of the project is to use RFID technology to track the production process and authenticity of prosciutto. The association plans to expand the testing of passive RFID systems in the next 12 months and will eventually require its members to adopt this technology.
Established in 1961, the Ham Association consists of 29 manufacturers of prosciutto, more than 5,000 pig farms and 131 butchers. The members of the association produce 36,400 tons of prosciutto each year.
Although, the trademark of San Daniele ham is protected in 51 countries around the world, and is listed in PDO (European Union’s Protected Designation of Origin)I have also registered in the system, but there are still counterfeit products on the market. The main reason for the association to design and test the RFID system is to establish a mechanism to sign the authenticity of ham on the market, and to increase the existing health and hygiene requirements. In order to achieve this goal, the association ultimately hopes to use RFID to track the entire production process of the fire feet, from the arrival of the pigs to the slaughterhouse to the production of prosciutto, and the delivery to warehouses and retail stores.
The Italian Ham Producers Association uses RFID tags to “stamp” ham
“We want to protect the interests of our consumers, so that every consumer can understand the production history of the ham purchased, including the date of birth of the pig and the details of the life cycle.” Softwork spokesperson Paola Visentin said that Softwork designed and tested This system.
The Ham Association conducted a feasibility study in 2005. The first test of the system was launched in 2006, and the ham was tracked and signed during the production start-up phase of the two factories in San Daniele. Both factories use manual labeling, and the larger factory also uses automatic labeling.
Throughout 2007, the association evaluated the test results and carried out a feasibility study to explore the possibility of using RFID on the production line, such as reading tags at every step of production, including salt immersion, cleaning, trimming, rinsing, Process of aging, deboning, compacting and slicing. The association plans to conduct step-by-step testing of the system in all stages of production in 2008.
During the 2006 test, after the hams were weighed and the initial inspections were completed, the smaller factories manually placed RFID tags on each ham, and then workers used a handheld reader to read the tags. In another larger plant, Softwork uses a special machine to shallow insert labels into the pork. The machine is installed on a conveyor belt, which also contains a Feig close-range reader.
The passive tag used in the system is customized, shaped like a rivet, operating frequency is 13.56MHz, and contains STMicroelectronics
LRI64 chip conforming to ISO15693 standard. Each tag is only compiled with a unique ID number, which corresponds to other information such as the pig’s birth date, breeding record, and local breeding code in the database.
In the next extended test, the second reading of the label will occur when the ham is soaked in salt. “The reading of the label after the ham is soaked in salt and the reading of the whole production process will help us to track and control the production process more reliably.” Softwork is responsible for the project’s technical manager Paolo Bevacqua.
When the system is fully developed and tested, each member of the association will be required to install the system. The settings of different scale factories are different. Once all members adopt this system, the association is expected to use 4 million tags each year.
If the ham is sold whole, the label will remain on the leg and be processed by the consumer. If the ham is sliced, the information on the RFID label will be printed on a paper label and pasted on the back of the shipping box. Visentin said the system would cost an average of US$73,000 per ham producer.
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