Ambient Systems, a supplier of active RFID systems in the Netherlands, and the Spanish System Integrators Information Highway Group (IHG) announced the successful testing of the new cold chain monitoring system. The pilot was directed by Bionest, Spain's largest organic strawberry producer, using RFID technology to monitor the temperature of the strawberries that were shipped from Spain to a distribution center in Germany.
Recently, a survey conducted by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality showed that up to 50% of food was wasted in the food supply chain. Strawberries and those soft fruits that are highly sensitive to temperature have the greatest economic losses, so real-time temperature monitoring systems are necessary.
In this successful pilot, the cold chain monitoring system uses a third generation of active RFID tags, adhered to the fruit basket, which can monitor the temperature in real time and transmit the information to Bionest.
When fruit arrives at a German distribution center, the temperature of each fruit tray shelf is transmitted via the GPRS wireless connection. The Web-based application provided by IHG immediately provides Bionest and retailers with information such as temperature, enabling end-users to be able to choose ripe fruits and sell them immediately.
In view of the success of the pilot, Bionest plans to expand the system scale in the next strawberry season.
Recently, a survey conducted by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality showed that up to 50% of food was wasted in the food supply chain. Strawberries and those soft fruits that are highly sensitive to temperature have the greatest economic losses, so real-time temperature monitoring systems are necessary.
In this successful pilot, the cold chain monitoring system uses a third generation of active RFID tags, adhered to the fruit basket, which can monitor the temperature in real time and transmit the information to Bionest.
When fruit arrives at a German distribution center, the temperature of each fruit tray shelf is transmitted via the GPRS wireless connection. The Web-based application provided by IHG immediately provides Bionest and retailers with information such as temperature, enabling end-users to be able to choose ripe fruits and sell them immediately.
In view of the success of the pilot, Bionest plans to expand the system scale in the next strawberry season.