Last year, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) launched a new forward-looking campaign to promote the long-term adoption and industry consensus of supply chain modernization. The "Smart Food Safety New Era" plan is an important step towards the establishment of a technology-based food system through the gradual change of culture, the popularization of new technologies and the clarification of interoperability standards. Many of these changes will soon be included in the updated Article 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Action (FSMA), which has been outlined in the traceability rules issued in September 2020.

Food Industry SaaS supply chain services company FoodLogiQ and its long-term partner Zebra Technologies recently released an integrated solution as part of the FoodLogiQ Connect Winter Release to achieve a more effective and efficient food technology ecosystem. FoodLogiQ Content Development Marketing Director Anna Ploegh (Anna Ploegh), FoodLogiQ Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy Julie McGill and Zebra Technologies' RFID Business Development Director Susan Flake (Susan Flake) sat down Discussed how RFID is shaping the modern food supply chain, and how the digital supply chain enables food companies to better enter the new era.

One

Pleuger: Starting from the simplest question, can you explain the basic forms and functions of RFID? What do tags, readers, and cloud data storage bring to us?

Fleck: The basic premise of readers and tags is simple. The reader emits energy to wake up the RFID tag. The RFID tag transmits the data back to the reader. This is a complete data exchange cycle. The advantages of collecting data through RFID are a) no site line is required, and b) the speed and accuracy of data collection.

McGill: Capturing data through a reader instead of scanning one by one, this subverts the previous data collection method, which is good for the entry and exit of the site and internal operations. After the data is captured, the information is stored in the cloud, providing all trading partners with a competitive advantage and access to key data that can be used for reporting, inventory visibility, and supply chain management.

Two

Pleuger: Compared with before, we have seen more and more people adopt RFID, carry out pilot projects, and are interested in RFID. What are the main trends and driving forces driving the adoption of RFID technology in the food industry?

Fleck: One of the main motivations is the ability to achieve inventory visibility with finer granularity, faster speed, and higher accuracy. These advantages allow store employees to have more time to serve customers instead of spending more time on paper and pen records. The inaccuracy of pen and paper records is also a headache. Under normal circumstances, recording data is a long-term focused work, but it is often interrupted. This may cause you to forget where the data is counted, resulting in data input to the back-end system. Therefore, in the catering industry, these errors lead to an average accuracy rate of industry statistics of only about 75%, and the value of RFID is that it can make this accuracy rate above 99%.

Three

Pleuger: Where is RFID used in the food supply chain? How does the data flow work, and how does it benefit retailers, manufacturers, suppliers, and operators?

Fleck: RFID is used from the supplier or manufacturer, from the source application to the distribution, and then to the restaurant. In this process, there are six key data reading sites, for example, at the supplier, it is the production and transportation point; at the distribution, it is the receiving and shipping point; at the retailer, it is the receiving and inventory point.

For suppliers, the key benefit is certification at the source, which enhances customer confidence and facilitates recalls. It provides suppliers with a way to connect to end consumers through brand stories, while also complying with evolving government regulations such as FSMA.

In terms of distribution, the benefits of RFID include eliminating the need to manually scan inventory, improving inventory accuracy, more effective management of product expiration dates, and traceability to track when and from where to ship. Finally, the accuracy of order delivery, such as knowing that they put the correct product on the correct truck and delivered it to each restaurant or food retailer serving the corresponding service.

For retailers, the benefits include not only saving labor, but also optimizing their internal food series, reducing food waste, and providing a better customer experience. Another advantage is that with item-level inventory management, more accurate and faster recall management can be carried out.

There are the same benefits in fast food restaurants. The average fast food chain has about 300 items in stock. It takes about an hour for them to check inventory with pen and paper, and then enter it into the back-end system. After we cooperated with fast food restaurants, they can count key items three times a day and check their inventory in the evening. They can also do an open inventory, weekly inventory or monthly inventory count of all items. With RFID technology, they can shorten 1h to about 5 minutes, make statistics at any time, and the results are accurate.

All of the above, in turn, leads to better profit protection, less waste, and more effective recalls.

Four

Pleuger: All these stakeholders must stand on the same position. What role do standards play in the use of RFID and digital data? Fleck: RFID fully complies with the GS1 standard, regardless of the vertical application field. In the food industry, we use GS1-128 tags, which include GTIN, date and RFID tag batch number. Some GS1 working groups are also studying how to add additional data and extended attributes, and generate new standards around more elements.

The reason people use the GS1 standard is to achieve interoperability so that suppliers can use a common language to send real data to distributors and fast food restaurants. This is what the standard does.

McGill: FoodLogiQ is also committed to data sharing and interoperability through open API interfaces, and has participated in GS1 US interoperability proof-of-concept (POC) projects. Working side by side with GS1 US and other major technology partners, the team is the first to use EPCIS to exchange information about product processes across platforms and systems. Over the years, industry partners have expressed concerns about data "silos", and these proof-of-concept projects have proven that data can be shared safely and efficiently using GS1 standards.

Five

Pleuger: As part of our latest version, FoodLogiQ has added the ability to use the FoodLogiQ mobile app to parse RFID tags to obtain traceability data. With this function, RFID tags can be read using Zebra RFD8500 equipment, at which time the traceability event data is transferred to the FoodLogiQ mobile application. Why is digitization from RFID to the cloud so important?

Fleck: There are two key factors-speed and accuracy. In addition to protecting brand reputation, inventory, positioning and removal of products from the supply chain within minutes can minimize supply disruptions and additional costs. This is related to accuracy. The digital supply chain with 99% accuracy eliminates written records and manual barriers, making customers more confident in their inventory. This means that customers always know what product is where. Moreover, food recalls can be more precise. Once such incidents occur, relevant products can be selected from selected stores instead of large-scale recalls.

Pleuger: I am always shocked by the huge food waste in the entire supply chain. This is really heartbreaking.

Flake: 40% of the things we grow are thrown away. This is actually developing in the wrong direction, because this number was 30% 10 years ago, but it continues to grow, which has caused problems for our landfills. Food occupies the largest amount in landfills. And there are still famines in some places. So, how can we reduce food waste, solve food insecurity, and help people who need food?

Pleuger: The first step is visualization and actionable data, which may be daunting for some people. Let's discuss how to start an important first step, especially for food companies that want to prepare for new regulations (such as FSMA 204).

Fleck: Let all stakeholders participate in the project as early as possible, and determine KPI and ROI in advance. For RFID, start with inventory visibility as the main goal of deployment. It is the basis for the development of all other applications.

McGill: The first step is to establish a firm vision, and the next step is to determine how to achieve it. The cooperation with RFID partners is conducive to the completion of data capture, and the traceability solution provider helps to store and understand the data in order to achieve the availability and operability of the data. Successful projects are inseparable from partners, who can collaborate and unimpeded the vision into reality.

Six

Pleuger: How can RFID enable food companies to implement the potential record keeping requirements outlined in the proposed traceability rules?

Fleck: RFID provides the digital identity of a single item, which can digitize the data immediately. Therefore, if you need to feed back information to the FDA within 24 hours, it can provide it almost in real time. Fast food restaurants can also reject some contaminated products in accordance with the latest regulations when receiving the goods. Distributors or suppliers can also find problematic product data before delivering products to fast food restaurants.

McGill: Pending regulations, such as the proposed FSMA 204 regulations, are in the development phase for batch/batch level traceability requirements. This will require the capture, storage and maintenance of the extended traceability attributes of product data on the FDA food traceability list. These data need to be stored for 24 months. If required, trading partners need to be prepared to share the required data with the FDA within 24 hours. This will require coordination and cooperation of all trading partners in the supply chain to determine how to meet these proposed regulations.

Seven

Pleuger: The FDA also recently launched the "New Era of Smart Food Safety" initiative. How will the integrated technology ecosystem using RFID help realize this vision, and what other innovations can be achieved in areas such as machine learning?

Fleck: We think they are complementary technologies, not competing technologies. Just like barcodes and RFID, they are complementary and complementary. One will not replace the other, but together they will form a more powerful solution.

Using machine learning and analysis based on RFID data can provide new insights into the company's product inventory and safety. In general, a strong technology ecosystem can help build a better food supply chain, reduce waste, save labor, and make the supply chain more efficient.

Eight

Pleuger: This year, we saw the importance of visibility and flexibility. How can RFID help companies deal with crises such as the COVID-19 epidemic?

Flake: RFID is hands-free, so no one will touch the product, but they can count the inventory. It is frictionless and anti-virus.

More broadly, RFID brings flexibility. At the beginning of the outbreak, we saw many retail stores with empty shelves, and it took a long time for the supply chain to return to normal. As visibility increases, the supply chain will be able to transport products in a more efficient manner, reduce inventory, and quickly adjust to the changes in consumer behavior we see today. These trends will continue after COVID-19. Compared with traditional supply chain methods, being able to react faster will become a top priority.

McGill: Food companies have been exploring the innovation and attractiveness of RFID and how to use it. Some people only use it in fast food restaurants or stores, while others have extended RFID to their distributors and supplier partners. The application scenarios are inexhaustible, and all nodes in the supply chain can benefit from them. In today's food system, frictionless, accurate, and efficient automation is essential. In order to meet internal needs and regulatory requirements, it is essential to collect data at all these reading nodes. We look forward to further cooperation with Zebra to bring our customers into a new era of food safety and traceability through RFID and other data collection technologies.