From Farm to Fork
Norway's Nortura is using RFID to bring increased efficiency to meat production.
By John Edwards
March 10, 2008—Old-time meat packers used to brag about their efficiency by claiming they could sell "everything but the squeal." Nortura, Norway's largest meat producer, is taking this concept to the next level by employing RFID to further streamline just about every aspect of the meat production process. "RFID is a technology with almost unlimited potential in this industry," says Geir Vevle, Nortura's RFID and industrial IT architect.
Nortura is currently working to build RFID into virtually every aspect of its fresh meet production and logistics processes. "From farm to fork" is how Vevle describes the organization's overall RFID strategy. Nortura is beginning to take advantage of the technology's potential to provide detailed product information, as well as increased visibility and efficiency, at every step: at the farm, young animals will be RFID-tagged for identification and classification; at the production site, tags will identify the age and origin of specific animals; and on the cutting line, meat parts will be identified according to their type, weight and nutritional characteristics.
In the future, the cooperative plans to extend its RFID use to the storage and transportation stages to provide greater supply-chain visibility. Beyond that, Nortura hopes to bring RFID onto the sales floor, enabling consumers to check product details by scanning packaging with specially equipped mobile phones.
March 10, 2008—Old-time meat packers used to brag about their efficiency by claiming they could sell "everything but the squeal." Nortura, Norway's largest meat producer, is taking this concept to the next level by employing RFID to further streamline just about every aspect of the meat production process. "RFID is a technology with almost unlimited potential in this industry," says Geir Vevle, Nortura's RFID and industrial IT architect.
Nortura is currently working to build RFID into virtually every aspect of its fresh meet production and logistics processes. "From farm to fork" is how Vevle describes the organization's overall RFID strategy. Nortura is beginning to take advantage of the technology's potential to provide detailed product information, as well as increased visibility and efficiency, at every step: at the farm, young animals will be RFID-tagged for identification and classification; at the production site, tags will identify the age and origin of specific animals; and on the cutting line, meat parts will be identified according to their type, weight and nutritional characteristics.
|
| Lambs and sheep are tagged at birth with 125 kHz low-frequency (LF) tags. |
In the future, the cooperative plans to extend its RFID use to the storage and transportation stages to provide greater supply-chain visibility. Beyond that, Nortura hopes to bring RFID onto the sales floor, enabling consumers to check product details by scanning packaging with specially equipped mobile phones.
To continue reading this article, please choose a purchase option.
Option 1: Become a Premium Member.
| One-year subscription, unlimited access to Premium Content: $189 |
Option 2: Purchase this article.
| Pages: 4 | Word Count: 2,021 | Purchase Price: $19.99 |
