The recent outbreaks of food borne diseases have focused attention on ensuring safety and traceability of food products. Public health, food and supplies regulators in United States and European Union have issued guidelines and regulations requiring manufacturers to enhance food safety by adopting measures that help identification and tracking of food stocks through the distribution channels spanning national boundaries.

RFID can help companies trace their produce from farms to the platter and is a powerful enabler in meeting the above requirements. RFID based solutions can help ensure food safety right from the agrochemicals manufacturing stage, through the farms, food processing units and distribution and retail chains. This makes it possible to effectively trace, identify and recall consignments suspected of contamination or rendered unfit for consumption due to various reasons. It can also serve as a check against intentional contamination. The solutions can help companies ensure minimizing negative impact on their businesses in the event of contamination and also prevent widespread outbreaks of food borne diseases like the recent outbreak of bird flu in Asia or the mad cow disease in Europe. TCS can help food manufacturers in developing and deploying RFID based solutions for food traceability.

Reprinted with Permission from Tata Consultancy Services