We have the technology

Developments in the traceability of animal products have moved from a slow walk to a trot – and they’re getting closer to home.

New Zealand now has a finalised National Animal Identification and Tracing system (NAIT) which will become mandatory for cattle in October 2011 and for deer in 2012. On another track, technologies that enable traceability with greater effectiveness and efficiency continue to advance internationally and in this country.

In May, GS1 undertook a fascinating RFID technology trial that saw meat from a small herd of cattle traced from one end of a supply chain to the other, from farm gate to a Christchurch meat retail outlet. It was a “proof of concept” exercise (PoC) using the EPCglobal Network and in particular a key component module named the EPC-IS, or Electronic Product Code Information Services.

EPC-IS is a globally-standardised interface, the glue between supply chain parties who want to exchange information which has been encoded into Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags using radio waves, computer systems and the internet.

There are many different applications of EPC/RFID around the world (even in New Zealand) but mainly these are about identifying and tracking products, or assets, within one organisation or location only. With EPC-IS, traceability information can be sent and received across organisational, national and international boundaries, with no loss of accuracy, timeliness or confidentiality.

The PoC was a joint initiative by ANZCO Foods, Rezare Systems, GS1 New Zealand and GS1 Hong Kong (and of course, it is the GS1 global organisation that developed EPC and EPC-IS with its global user community). The concept was to uniquely identify and track a small herd of cattle, carcasses and certain meat cuts from the finishing farm to the processing plant in Ashburton, and then to the retail outlet in Christchurch.

The essence of the assignment was to prove that the contents of a carton arriving at the retailer could be traced back to particular animals and be matched with the sort of data that is meaningful for real-world traceability – and that all the information could be accessed remotely by each participant in the exercise. An assortment of RFID tags were used first on the animals, then on carcasses and finally on cartons of meat cuts. The tags are commercially available UHF (ultra high frequency) tags sourced in China which were capable of carrying EPCs and of being read without fuss in different locations around the supply chain. An assortment of RFID readers was also used, (including hand held readers) in order to demonstrate hardware interoperability. Tags were read at nine different ‘read points’ or locations first as animals were being loaded onto a truck for transport from the farm and finally as cartons were delivered to the retailer, Westmeat.

The PoC obviously included a consolidation of all tag read data into one data repository using the EPC-IS and the access to the information thereafter by all authorised parties. GS1 Hong Kong, which has the relevant RFID IT capabilities, experience and infrastructure, provided EPC-IS hosting service for the whole exercise. The type of traceability information captured during the trial included the unique animal identification, the specific read location (eg: farm race, boning room, chiller etc), timestamp and the relevant business step (ie: receiving, shipping). The tag data was uploaded to Hong Kong over the Internet where the PoC participants were then able to access and interrogate the EPCglobal Network data base (also via the Internet) as required.

It’s my understanding is that this is a world-first PoC with the use of EPC-IS in a primary sector context. It made sense for the PoC to focus on this type of application in this industry sector given the work GS1 and it’s partners have done in recent years.

The PoC results, when published in the near future should provide plenty of interest to many industry sectors worldwide. It’s a verifiable demonstration that the EPCglobal Network is not mythical, it does work and it can provide a wealth of real-time and forensic supply chain intelligence. We have the technology – it’s time to start using it.

Gary Hartley
www.GS1NZ.org