Fresh Food and Harvest Management

In Fresh Food applications, companies deal with multiple harvests or varying produce using physical processes that are prone to error and traditionally poorly documented.  With multiple harvests in process during a peak season, process steps such as the Produce Cooler can become bottlenecks, increasing the risk of spoilage. The resulting issue is the lack of traceability of the produce within the food chain if contamination is found.  In 2002, the Bio-terrorism Act required the tracing of food, but did not include growers at the beginning of the food chain.  With recent outbreaks of E. Coli related to fresh produce, this has become a highly visible issue. 

RFID and a variety of sensors in conjunction with an intelligent software system can provide a superior level of visibility of harvest processes from the field to the fork.

By utilizing RFID and InSync's software, the process can be highly efficient and safeguarded against possible contamination. At the harvest field, RFID tags are outfitted to cardboard and plastic bins and secured on-site.  Tags can be read using a handheld reader with InSync software installed. The software allows the operator to initiate the harvest process in the field, when it physically begins.  Once the harvest is complete, the tag information associated with the produce, field, and grower is viewable as an event.  If the process exceeds the time fence, the harvest manager and central harvest control managers can be automatically notified of the specific bins at risk and their present location.  Similar events can be recorded and automated as the bins are tracked through a variety of process steps.

Learn more by visiting our resources section for Harvest and Produce Industry Case Studies