Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103

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Trends in Food Science & Technology

journal homepage: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/trends-in-food-science-
and-technology

Review

A review: RFID technology having sensing aptitudes for food industry

and their contribution to tracking and monitoring of food products
Fabien Bibi a, *, Carole Guillaume a, Nathalie Gontard a, Brice Sorli b
a
Joint Research Unit Agropolymers Engineering and Emerging Technologies, UMR 1208 INRA/SupAgroM/UMII/CIRAD, 2 Place Pierre Viala, 34060
Montpellier, France
b
Institut d'Electronique et des Syst

emes, Universit
e Montpellier 2, 860 Rue Saint-Priest, 34090 Montpellier, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology has considerably grown in the past few years and is
Received 21 September 2016 nowadays sought to be implemented for the identification of products and for traceability in the agrifood
Received in revised form sector, ensuring food safety and quality. RFID is now considered as the worthy successor of the barcode
14 January 2017
with a foreseen expansion not only in the agrifood sector, but also in industrial sectors for environmental
Accepted 14 January 2017
Available online 28 February 2017
monitoring (temperature, relative humidity and luminosity) through namely WSN (Wireless Sensor
Network) and WST (Wireless Sensor Technology). Research studies are being progressively performed in
the objective of coupling sensors to the RFID technology. This interfacing would lead to a better moni-
Keywords:
RFID technology
toring of packaging headspace by means of the development of different sensors, as well as their
Traceability coupling to RFID tags through the microchip or directly to the RFID antenna. The present work gives an
Food monitoring for safety overview of the basics of the RFID technology, the existing sensors and the ones being developed to be
Sensors interfaced with the technology, as well as the existing RFID sensor tags. The presented literature studies,
RFID tags mainly in the agrifood sector, demonstrate how RFID may meet our needs for a better monitoring of food
quality by coupling radio frequency communication and traceability. The implementation of sensors
which is a very new technology being studied and concomitantly developed may lead to a better
detection of food degradation markers and thus to a reduction in food loss which is one of the world's
major issue.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction passports (Finkenzeller, 2010). It is obvious that barcodes have

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) made its apparition dur-
ing the second world war (1939e1945) for the identification of
Friend or Foe (IFF) military aircrafts (Kumari, Narsaiah, Grewal, &
Anurag, 2015). The first apparatus were passive and the system
merged to active apparatus later on and to modern electronics
(Stockman, 1948). RFID is one of the major technologies in the field
of identification. Its technology is based on a wireless communi-
cation, particularly through radiofrequency waves, between a tag
attached to an object and an interrogator. This system is more
convenient for product identification compared to other identifi-
cation systems such as barcodes. For example, RFID tags do not
require visual contact and thus can be placed into boxes, containers,
injected into animals and embedded into any objects such as
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bibi.fabien@hotmail.com (F. Bibi).
limited capabilities compared to RFID, but due to the present cost of
barcodes, they are still on the market at the expense of RFID. In
spite of this, RFID systems are gaining more and more popularity in
numerous sectors of activity (Kumari et al., 2015; Realini & Marcos,
2014; Xiao et al., 2007). Their domain of applications are expanding
rapidly, where more than 3000 cases are known such as logistics,
identification, toll road, pharmacy, and item, pallet and animal
tracking. Due to the growing need of RFID, research has been un-
dertaken on the size, the cost, the reliability and data security of
tags.
One of the most promising areas of application is the agrifood
sector. Traceability, ensuring food quality and safety is of a major
concern in today's society. It is the ability to locate an animal,
commodity, food product or ingredient and follow the history in
the supply chain forward, from the source to the consumer and
backward, from the consumer to the source (Costa et al., 2012).
Therefore, nowadays, identification technologies and in particular
RFID, are becoming increasingly important, bringing gain in

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2017.01.013
0924-2244/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
92 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
productivity, food safety and quality through traceability.
In the objective of adding value to RFID technology, sensors are
developed to be interfaced with RFID tags, for monitoring different
aspects of food quality for example milk freshness, bacterial growth
and fish spoilage (Vanderroost, Ragaert, Devlieghere, & De
Meulenaer, 2014) and for reducing food waste being about 1/3 of
the food production for human consumption (Jenny Gustavsson,
Cederberg, Sonesson, & Meybeck, 2011). One of the precursors in
the domain is the Time Temperature Indicator (TTI). TTI provides
solutions for ensuring the monitoring of the cold supply chain. In
addition of that, coupling RFID tags with these sensors offers the
opportunity to create a web database, available to the suppliers and
consumers, using the unique identification code attached to each
product (Hu, Zhang, Moga, & Neculita, 2013; Papetti et al., 2012).
Other sensors being developed are gas sensors (Espinosa et al.,
2010; Jang & Won, 2014; Potyrailo & Surman, 2013; Vergara
et al., 2007; Vu & Won, 2013), chemical sensors (Bhadra,
Thomson, & Bridges, 2015; Kassal, Steinberg, & Steinberg, 2013;
Steinberg & Steinberg, 2009; Steinberg, Kassal, Tkalcec, &
Murkovic Steinberg, 2014), humidity sensors (Abad et al., 2009;
Kim et al., 2009; Oprea et al., 2007; Rivadeneyra et al., 2014;
Salmero n et al., 2014), oxygen sensors (Martínez-Olmos et al.,
2013) for intelligent packaging applications. With respect to this,
the basic functionalities of RFID has to be conserved, for tracking
items on the whole supply chain using the electronic product code,
and upon this, add new functionalities to RFID tags.
Intelligent packaging systems including sensors coupled to RFID
tags, used for sensing, communicating and monitoring food pack-
aging headspace, should provide data about the food quality, safety
and history. Within this context, the aim of this review is to produce
an updated analysis of the functionalities of RFID. The basics of RFID
are developed and the evolution of food labels as a function of time
is exposed, as well as the needs, the prospects and the cost. RFID in
the agrifood sector is discussed and the opportunity is seized to
unveil innovations essentially in the sensor development field,
Fig. 1. Radio frequency identification technology.
coupled to RFID tags for real time monitoring of food quality.
2. RFID technology - briefly
The abbreviation RFID stands for radio frequency identification,
in other words, information carried by radio waves. RFID is used for
product identification and for gathering information on items
automatically, without a physical connection or line of sight as
required for other technologies such as barcodes. Fig. 1 represents
different RFID systems and their characteristics. They can be clas-
sified in three categories: passive, active and semi-passive, having
different working frequencies (Aguzzi et al., 2011; Roberts, 2006).
The different parts and components are presented and discussed in
the following sections of the present work.
2.1. Components and systems
RFID systems (Fig. 3) are made up of several components such as
a RFID antenna used for communication, a chip for unique identi-
fication (by means of an electronic product code) and for data
storage, a reader or interrogator for wave emission and reception
upon backscattering from the RFID tag, and a host computer for
data saving and analysis. Depending on the types of tags (passive,
semi-passive or active), either no batteries are needed (passive tag),
or a battery may be necessary for wave emission only (semi-passive
tag), or for powering the RFID tag and for wave emission (active
tag).
RFID Antenna: The RFID antenna, used for electromagnetic
wave capture and emission, is made up of a metal pattern, which
imposes the emission frequency. According to the foreshadowed
application, the designed antenna should have a low cost (sub-
strate, conductors and process), be non invasive, be as environ-
mental friendly as possible, and have its impedance matched to the
one of the chip for a maximum energy transmission.
Chip: The chip contains the Electronic Product Code (EPC) which
 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
is made up of bits for encoding information about the product. The
EPC is unique to each tag and is recorded at the time of production.
The chip can be classified in terms of data access in 2 ways:
1) Read only;
2) Read write.
The data access types determine how the information can be
modified, changed or erased. A reserved memory may also be
allocated in the chip and used for adding a “kill” password or access
password. A user memory may be added and used for supple-
mentary information such as sensor data.
Electronic Product Code (EPC): The EPC bridges the gap be-
tween barcodes and the world of RFID, by providing greater in-
ventory accuracy, regarding data contained by the EPC, and by
providing details so that many more unique objects can be iden-
tified. The EPC protocols are developed by EPCglobal in cooperation
with the Auto-ID laboratories (Xiao et al., 2007). The code can have
64 bits or 96 bits with different functionalities. It contains a header,
an EPC manager, an object class and a serial number (Kumari et al.,
2015). An example of a 96 bits EPC is shown in Fig. 2. The next
generation of EPC is the electronic product code information ser-
vices (EPCIS), which control information contained by EPC (tag ID,
date of manufacture, country of origin, production batch and
shipment). EPCIS enable companies to themselves determine how
data is accessed by partners, and can be considered as the trading of
EPC data between partners. Consequently, manufacturers, shippers,
warehouses and retailers are all able to track the history and
movement of products, giving the possibility to distinguish be-
tween products (Finkenzeller, 2010).
Reader: The reader is an electronic apparatus used for electro-
magnetic wave emission and reception. It detects and recognizes
the identification information of the tag through the tag ID, pro-
vided by the chip manufacturer. The reader has also the possibility
to decode information carried by the incident wave by means of a
decoder (Kumari et al., 2015).
Fig. 2. Electronic product code - 96 bits type (Xiao et al., 2007).
Fig. 3. RFID tag inlay with the different components.
93
Host computer: A host computer is used to store information
gathered from the interrogation routines carried out by the reader.
(Aguzzi et al., 2011; Costa et al., 2012; Roberts, 2006). It can also, in
some cases, be used for controlling the reader.
2.2. Types of tags
RFID tags can be categorized in three types: Active tags, passive
tags and semi passive tags.
2.2.1. Passive tags
Passive tags do not contain onboard power sources. Instead,
they rely on the wave emitted by the reader for powering the chip.
By backscattering, an electromagnetic wave is sent back to the
reader. This type of tag has a typical reading distance up to 10 m
depending on the frequency (Tajima, 2007). The data transmission
rate depends on the operating frequency and few tags can be read
simultaneously. Data contained by the chip can be scanned multi-
ple times (write once and multiple readings). The interesting
properties of the passive tags (low cost, long operational life, small
sized and light weighted) make them potential candidates for
developing low cost devices.
2.2.2. Semi-passive tags
Semi-passive tags are battery powered to electrically supply the
chip only. The tags still rely on the reader for electromagnetic wave
emission. The battery most of the time remains inactive, and thus
increases the life span of the tags. The power source provided on
the semi-passive tags increases the working range compared to
passive tags. In some cases, the battery found on the semi-passive
tag may power supply a sensor interfaced to the chip and for
sensor recording.
2.2.3. Active tags
These tags are embedded with a battery which is used for
powering the chip and for wave emission through an active
transmitter. The reading range of the active tags is wider than the
passive ones, being of 30 m or more (Tajima, 2007). The trans-
mission rate is fast and the number of tags that can be read
simultaneously is high. Multiple writings and readings can be
performed on the chips. However, the disadvantages are a high cost
and the size of the tag which is quite invasive. The operational life
of the tag depends on the battery life.
94 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
2.3. Operating frequencies
RFID systems are also characterized by their communication
frequencies. The use of radio frequency waves are subjected to rules
and regulations on the operational bands, field strength and

reading distance (Laniel, Emond, & Altunbas, 2011). Making use of
these factors, several frequency bands can be defined from the ra-
dio frequency spectrum (Fig. 4).
Table 1 presents the different communication frequency bands
and their characteristics. RFID communications work by wave
emission without a conducting support. Two different fundamental
types of interactive modes exist between the reader and the tag:
inductive coupling, where energy transfer is performed by a mag-
netic field, and a radiative coupling, where energy is transferred
through an electromagnetic wave (Vergara et al., 2007). The
communication speed defines the rate at which data is transferred
from the tag to the reader. The reading distance is the maximum
distance from which the tag can be identified and read. Several
applications are also presented in Table 1.
Low frequency (LF) band is found in between 125 kHz and
134 kHz. RFID tags in this frequency band have the advantage of
having little interferences with liquids and metals.
High frequency (HF) band has a popular frequency of 13.56 MHz,
with a greater reading range and higher reading speed of tags than
in the LF domain.
Ultra high frequency (UHF) band is between 860 MHz and
960 MHz. UHF tags have a better read range and improved data
transfer than in the previous frequency bands, but are impaired by
water and metals.
Super high frequency bands (SHF) is either at 2.45 GHz or
5.8 GHz. At these frequencies, the highest data transfer rates and
identification are obtained. However, the tags have a high cost and
the electromagnetic waves are unable to penetrate metal and
water.
Considering Table 1, the increase in frequency impacts several
characteristics of RFID tags. Globally, with increasing frequency, the
communication speed is increased, which allows the integration of
more functionalities to the RFID tags (for example larger memory).
The reading distance depends on the application of the RFID tags.
For example, a tag which is read only or read/write will have
different reading ranges because of: the energy required for
Fig. 4. Radio frequency spectrum showing RFID frequencies.
powering the tags, the integration of other functions (sensors,
extended memory) if any, the quality of the RFID tag and reader,
and the authorized power in the geographical area of use.
2.4. Standards
RFID standards have been emerging since year 2000 due to its
importance to ensure safety and operability of tags and RFID
readers across countries. Standardizations describe several aspects
of RFID tags and systems such as the format, the protocols, the
contents of the electronic product code (EPC), the operating fre-
quencies used by the tags and readers. International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) and EPCglobal (joint venture between the
Uniform Code Council and the European Article Number Interna-
tional) are separate organizations of RFID standards, working
together towards single RFID standard scenarios, where standards
are set for the use of RFID systems globally (Kumari et al., 2015).
Operating frequencies: The standardization to which the
operating frequencies are subjected is the Federal Communications
Commission (FFC) in the USA. It defines four different operating
frequencies (Table 1) which are publicly available. Some standards
dealing with vicinity and smart RFID cards are ISO15693 standard
and ISO14443 respectively (Swedberg, 2010) with working ranges
up to 1 m (Zampolli et al., 2008), for example in the development of
credit card-sized tags (Steinberg, Kassal, et al., 2014). ISO 18000-6A
and ISO 18000-6B defines the UHF RFID tag standards (Nikitin &
Rao, 2006; Xiao et al., 2007).
Sensors: The incorporation of sensors to RFID technology has to
be compatible with standards such as the ISO15693 RFID protocol.
However the latter is flexible enough to accommodate the inte-
gration of a sensor data stream. For example, a thin film sensor
(Steinberg & Steinberg, 2009) and a conductometric interface

(Steinberg, Zura, & Murkovic Steinberg, 2014) form an integral part
of a radio-frequency smart card, that has been designed for use in
distributed chemical and biological detection systems. They are
based on ISO15693 radio frequency identification protocol.
Other Standards: ISO11784 and ISO11785 are used for identifi-
cation of animals. ISO8402 defines traceability as the ability to
retrieve historical information, use or localization of an article, an
activity, by means of a recorded identification. Protocol standards of
ISO18000 specify working frequency ranges of RFID systems. As
 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103 95

Table 1
Communication frequency bands of RFID tags.

LF HF UHF SHF

Frequency 125e134 kHz 13.56 MHz 860e960 MHz 2.45 and

860 MHz-Europe 5.8 GHz
915 MHz-USA
Coupling type Inductive Inductive Radiative Radiative
(near field) (near field) (far field) (far field)
Communication Few kb/s ~100 kb/s Few hundreds of kb/s Few hundreds
speed of kb/s
Reading 20 cme100 cm 0.1 me1.5 m 3 me15 m 3 me30 m
distance
Application Animal tracking where tag is injected Cold chain Identification/transfer and good anti-collision capabilities (prevent interference Toll, access
in animal blood monitoring of radio waves among devices) control

such, ISO18000-6 covers the frequency range for
860 MHze960 MHz. Other standards define the access mode (read
and write operations), the memory type, the memory organization,
the data rate transfer, the tag reading speed, the reading range, the
tag capacity and the type of tag (passive, semi-passive and active)
(Garfinkel, 2002; Philipose, Smith, Mamishev, Roy, & Sundara-
Rajan, 2005; Schmidt, Gellersen, & Merz, 2000).
Concerning the RFID readers, the lack of standards is a potential
cause of interferences among different readers, specifically when
multiple RFID readers interrogate one RFID tag. But due to the
relatively small scale adoption of RFID tags at the moment, it is not
currently a problem.
3. RFID tags in food industry
3.1. The needs
Food labeling has gone through several stages of historical
development. The industrialization of food production brought
consumers to be more reliant on food labels as a key source of in-
formation when purchasing food products. Fig. 5 gives a repre-
sentation of the evolution of labels from a traditional sticker which
has first been used, through the barcode, up to RFID technology.
The omnipresent barcode systems have been widely used in the
food sector. They contain identification numbers and black bars
(codes) that are read by optical scanners. Barcodes facilitate in-
ventory control, stock re-ordering and checkout with additional
information like nutritional details, among others. These types of
labels are cheap but however, have a limited storage capacity with
meager information stored. Innovation in barcode technology has
given rise to the development of barcode systems integrated with
temperature sensors, in which data has to be read by a handheld
scanner. The information is then displayed on a computer for
analysis or processing.
In spite of the improvement in barcode technology, RFID is well
positioned for the withdrawal of barcodes (Costa et al., 2012).
Fig. 5. Upgrading of labels for product identification.
Significantly larger data storage capacity is available which can be
used to store information such as temperature, relative humidity,
nutritional and supplier information of the food chain. RFID pro-
vides real-time information updates as the product moves through
the supply chain, thus increasing traceability. Table 2 presents the
advantages of RFID upon barcodes.
Barcodes still dominate the market due to their low cost
compared to the one of RFID. However, due to the numerous ad-
vantages of RFID systems compared to barcodes and to a further
extent, traditional labels (Finkenzeller, 2010), RFID systems are now
beginning to conquer new mass markets.
Traceability: Nowadays RFID is associated to traceability. It re-
fers to the ability to locate products for management, control and
security aspects. Under the European Union law, traceability is
defined as the tracking of any food, feed, food-producing animal or
substance, which will be used for consumption, through all stages
of production, processing and distribution. It is strictly regulated,
and identification of the origin and destination of food products
should be correctly labeled. Traceability is necessary as it is a way
for responding to potential risks that may arise in food or feed and
thus, ensure the safety of food consumption in the European Union
(Taoukis, Katsaros, Li, & Derens-Bertheau, 2011). In addition, con-
sumers demand for high food quality and safety is continuously
rising, increasing the need for new technologies to meet the de-
mand (Thakur & Hurburgh, 2009).
In the agrifood sector, traceability is the tracking of the food
product on the whole supply chain (production, transportation,
storage and delivery). RFID, giving the possibility to identify and
manage the massive amount of goods, has been applied (Kumari
et al., 2015; Sarac, Absi, & Dauzre-Prs, 2010), and is suitable for
fulfilling the task of commodity tracking.
The gain in competitiveness, the effective tracking, the reduc-
tion of food waste, the guarantee for safe and good quality food
products, the improvement in the management of stock and
reduction in labor cost are worth investing in RFID technology
(Roberts, 2006). Numerous research articles exist on traceability.
The monitoring of the quality of cheese in the goal of obtaining a
procedure for info-tracking systems, together with the combination
with a web platform to access production history and quality of
product using the RFID code on the web has been developed
(Papetti et al., 2012). In the same objective of using a web platform,
a tracking and traceability system for animal product safety based
on analysis of the factors that affect pork products quality has been
studied. Data collected by RFID was sent through the internet to
servers, abattoir and retailers (Xiong Ben Hai et al., 2007). The
implementation of vegetable supply chain traceability to ensure the
transportation of safe and pollution free vegetables to the market
was also found in literature. Information is saved on RFID cards and
linked to a web platform, available for consumers (Hu et al., 2013).
Three other studies on real time traceability in agri-food supply
96 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
Table 2
Differences between RFID technology and barcodes. Adapted from Xiao et al. (2007).
Characteristics
Traceability: communication to readers over the whole distribution chain
Multiple reading
Reading rate
Tag scanning
Multiple write and read
Reading through multiple materials (paper, plastic) where radio waves go through
Life span
Cost
Robustness
Security
Noninvasive label
Environmental impact
Market domination
chains were also found (Feng, Fu, Wang, Xu, & Zhang, 2013;
Gandino, Montrucchio, Rebaudengo, & Sanchez, 2007; Thakur &
Hurburgh, 2009).
3.2. The cost
The cost of the tag depends mostly on the type of tag and the
implementation of the tag on the market. In this respect, passive
tags are becoming cheaper over the years down to about 40e50
cents per tag (Ahvenainen, 2003), due to their large scale integra-
tion into supply chain. IDTechEx, supplied a report evidencing that
the RFID market was worth $7.88 billion in 2013, up from $6.98
billion in 2012 and at that time predicted a growth of $9.2 billion in
2014 (including readers and software for RFID cards, labels and
other factors). They forecast a rise to $30.24 billion in 2024. This
growth is mainly due to the passive UHF RFID labels and tagging of
animals such as pigs, sheep and pets. However, the cost of tags
below an order of 1 million is of $0.3 each, unfortunately more
expensive than barcodes. This limits their usage as some companies
found that moving to RFID technology is unaffordable (Xiao et al.,
2007). In the case of semi-passive and active tags, the cost is
significantly increased due to the use of batteries, decreasing
consequently the lifetime of the devices. In addition, environ-
mental issues may arise due the disposal of batteries (Metzger,
Michahelles, & Fleisch, 2007). Two examples of active RFID tags
that can operate in a wide range of environmental conditions are
the WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) and the WST (Wireless Sensor
Technology). They can have great advantage in size and power
(Alvarez, 2011). Within WSN and WST, two standard technologies:
Zigbee and Bluetooth devices are becoming more and more pop-
ular. They can be coupled to sensors such as temperature, humidity
and volatile compound detection. The cost of the radio chips of
Zigbee and Bluetooth devices vary from $3/module to $6/module.
The surrounding electronics and the integration of sensors may add
an additional cost up to $50/module. The use of a battery although
providing enough power for data transmission and for powering
the surrounding electronics, increases considerably the price.
The cost of RFID tags can be dropped by reducing labor cost,
supply-chain cost, carrying cost, theft, and to a further extent by
increasing sales, improving tacking through warehouse and dis-
tribution centers (Estrada-Flores & Tanner, 2008; Xiao et al., 2007).
The design of cheap and high quality tags is essential and can be
achieved by optimizing the manufacturing process by using low
cost materials such as plastic or paper. Low cost metal such as
aluminum is forecasted as it has good electrical properties and is
the cheapest. The method of depositing the metal on the substrate
may also be optimized for cost reduction.
RFID Barcode
✔✔✔ ✘
✔✔✔ ✘
✔✔✔ ✔
✔✔ ✔
✔✔✔ ✘
✔✔ ✘
✔✔ ✔
✔ ✔✔
✔✔ ✔
✔✔ ✔
✔✔ ✔
✔ ✔✔
✘ ✔✔✔
3.3. The prospects
RFID is becoming increasingly important on the market by a
gain in productivity, security and reactivity, with much effort put in
for its complete deployment. For the technology to be adopted on
the market, it will be indispensable to have affordable RFID tags
with high performances. The application of RFID to traceability in
the supply chain (Ruiz-Garcia & Lunadei, 2011) foreshadows that
the implementation of biosensor RFID application, in numerous
sectors such as agrifood sector, is only a time matter. The global
market for RFID should progress, driven by a democratization
process of RFID technology, with a decrease in the tag cost, together
with the setting up of infrastructures able to compete with the high
volume of RFID tags. It is foreseen that in 2024 the sales of RFID tags
will have the following figures for several applications in different
sectors such as Medical (5%), transport of individuals (21%),
consuming products (5%), logistic on land and sea (6%), airports
(1%), fabrication (3%), leisure and sport (1%), retail sale (27%) others
(4%) (Raghu & Harrop, 2013). On the other hand, research prospects
should continue in the goal of improving RFID tags such as the
readability. Test showed that the RFID signal would be affected by
metals, cardboard, glass, and even by folding and stretching. This
can be a critical issue if the cardboard or food packaging to which
the tag is attached is humidified or torn (Ruiz-Garcia & Lunadei,
2011).
3.4. Cold chain applications
RFID can be used in a large range of agrifood products. Some of
the fields in which the technology may be implemented are: hor-
ticultural, meat, pig, fishery, dairy, bakery, and beverages. RFID has
been progressively developed in these fields of activities for
traceability and for food chain monitoring. In all these sectors, the
use of RFID becomes even more interesting not only for info
tracking but for monitoring different parameters such as temper-
ature and freshness (Gandino et al., 2007). Another example is the
use of RFID tags to info track artisanal Italian cheese. The authors
also used a web based system to make basic information available
to consumers before and after purchase (Papetti et al., 2012).
Similar systems are put into practice for the other aforementioned
products. Kong, Zhao, Sun, Wang, and Zhang (2009) worked on pig
meet supply chain where the identification technology was used
for establishing the safety of the chain. Abad et al. (2009) worked
on the validation of the RFID smart tag for real time monitoring of
fish logistic chain. Another study was performed on smoked sea-
food product and RFID tag traceability (Grabacki, Ronchetti,
Humphrey, & Hedgepeth, 2007). Laniel et al. (2011) worked on
the optimal positioning of an RFID antenna in order to achieve full
 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
RFID readability inside a sea container with frozen food, foreseen to
overcome damping of the RFID signal in the presence of water and
ice. The authors tested two frequencies: 433 MHz and 915 MHz, and
they found that 100% readability was obtained with the 433 MHz
antenna. Only 68% readability was obtained using the 915 MHz
antenna. Bernardi et al. (2008) worked on an anti-counterfeit
mechanism for wine bottles to determine their originality.
Shelf life and quality monitoring of food products are also
important application sectors for RFID due to the increasing de-
mand for the good quality and safety of food products. Storage time
and temperature are the two main factors affecting food quality.
RFID devices with a sensor interface could be essential in that
sector. Research have been carried out by several authors (Amador,
Emond, & Nunes, 2009; Jedermann, Ruiz-Garcia, & Lang, 2009;
Wang Tingman, Zhang Jian, & Zhang Xiaoshuan, 2010; Wu et al.,
2010). Various and different applications in the agrifood sector
indicate the progressive increase in popularity of RFID tag systems
and will continue rising in the coming years. Traceability, sensing
abilities and increase in efficiency are the key words for describing
this development, and are discussed in the next sections of the
present work.
4. Sensors and RFID sensor tags in food industry
A sensor or biosensor can be defined as a component able to
transform a physical quantity which is difficult to measure into an
“easy to measure” variable, usually an electrical characteristic
(Lalauze, 2012). They are bridges connecting the outside analogue
world with the digital world. Sensors are usually made up of two
components: a sensitive element and a transducer (Fig. 6).
The integration of sensors to RFID tags is a great advance and
brings value added functionalities to RFID technology. Some of the
most important applications of sensors emerge in bio component
sensing. Organic sensors exploit organic materials (bio materials) as
sensing layers and/or components of transducers. Some examples
of biosensors or organic molecules which may be of great interest
are proteins (antibodies and enzymes), nucleic acids (DNA and
RNA), and natural and synthetic organic materials of various sizes
and lengths (hydrocarbons and polymers) (Kalantar-zadeh, 2013).
RFID biosensor tags not only provide sensing capabilities of
mesurands such as temperature, and the monitoring of microbio-
logical activity in packaging headspace through food degradation
markers, but also maintain the basic identification functions as
conventional RFID tags. Sensors may be embedded to passive, semi-
passive and active tags, either directly onto the antenna or con-
nected to the chip, with logging features to keep tract of measured
quantities, as a function of time, or by recording predefined events
(Ruhanen et al., 2008). The coupling of sensors such as time tem-
perature indicators (TTI), gas sensors, chemical sensors, humidity
sensors to RFID for the food industry increases the functionality of
RFID tags and creates new concepts in research fields, especially for
Fig. 6. Schematic depiction of a sensing system (Kalantar-zadeh, 2013).
97
improving traceability.
Up to date, markets for RFID sensor tags are still immature. Few
manufacturers offer RFID tags with sensing functionalities where
most of them are temperature based. Nevertheless, some of them
provide an interface for humidity sensors and other types of sen-
sors (light, pressure, weight, etc.). The leaders in this field of RFID
are presented in Table 3.
4.1. Food quality monitoring systems
Intelligent packaging can be defined as the packaging that
senses, communicates and monitors the conditions of packed food
in the objective of giving information about food quality, safety and
history of the products during transport and storage, beneficial for
consumers and food industry. Controlling temperature and
detecting markers of food degradation such as carbon dioxide,
ethanol and ethylene (Vergara et al., 2007) allow maintaining food
quality, or allow detecting food degradation in packaging. Sensors
developed for these applications are presented in the following
paragraphs.
Freshness indicators are sensors that monitor the quality of the
food present in a packaging by reacting to changes in the packaging
due to microbial growth or chemical changes in the fresh food
product. Microbiological activity may be assessed visually via re-
actions between microbial growth metabolites and integrated in-
dicators within the package. Freshness indicators can also be used
as shelf life prediction for perishable products and are considered
to be direct indicators of food quality. The principle used by Galagan
and Su (2008) is based on a color change of a fadable ink to time
temperature control of food freshness. Rukchon, Nopwinyuwong,
Trevanich, Jinkarn, and Suppakul (2014) developed freshness in-
dicators of chicken breast, where a total color difference of a mixed-
pH dye-based indicator was correlated with different carbon di-
oxide levels of skinless chicken breast. In addition of research ac-
tivities performed by different authors on the subject, the
development of freshness indicators has been performed by
different packaging companies. Fresh Tag®, SensorQ®, Raflatac, food
sentinel system and Toxin Guard® are all involved in the develop-
ment of these types of tags based on the colorimetric indicator
using silver nanolayers, pH-sensing indicator, biosensors on barc-
odes and biosensors using films respectively (Realini & Marcos,
2014). Freshness indicators (RipesenseTM) for detecting aromas
to determine maturation of fruits were developed by Jenkins
Group.
Integrity indicators indicate any leakage in a package by
monitoring the packaging headspace. It can also be classified as
indirect monitoring of food products. The information that is pro-
vided by the integrity indicator is the time duration for which the
package has been opened. The label is activated by oxygen contact,
for instance when the seal is broken. The change that takes place
most of the time is color based. Gas indicators are mainly used for
fulfilling the role of integrity indicators (Vanderroost et al., 2014). A
commercial indicator for leakage detection is the Ageless® eye
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical which detects a color change from pink to
blue, and is a reversible system (Realini & Marcos, 2014).
Biosensors are able to monitor food quality in a specific way as
they can detect the presence of degradation molecules and might
be designed in a tailored manner according to the type of product
being packed. Biosensors can be placed inside the food package or
integrated into the packaging material for the detection of potential
molecules such as glucose, organic acids (lactic and acetic acid),
ethanol, volatile nitrogen compounds (ammonia), dimethylamine,
and trimethylamine, biogenic amines (histamine), carbon dioxide
and sulfuric compounds. The biosensors that are currently being
developed for intelligent packaging are to the prototype level. For
Table 3
Market prospects for RFID tags. Adapted from Ruhanen et al. (2008).

Manufacturers Tag Frequency Type of tag Functionality description Other remarks Country

CAEN A927 e UHF semi- Monitors the temperature as a function of time over Battery lifetime is around 3 years The tag Italy
Temperature passive the whole supply chain of medical products or is ISO 18000- 6B compliant
Logger perishable food items
Infratab Freshtime e Semi- Used for temperature monitoring of perishable Compatible with ISO UHF 18000-6B. India
Tag passive items. Tag programming can be done and the tag Lifetime is from 1 day up to 3 þ years
RFID tag can work independently. The tags include alerts on depending upon the battery and setup
shelf life duration temperature threshold violating
and elapsed time alerts. More detailed information
like history can be obtained via RFID queries
KSW Microtec VarioSens e Semi- Temperature monitoring and comparing Tag is ISO 15693-3 compliant Germany
Basic passive temperatures with standard values. Storage of
RFID HF related information. Possible reuse depending on
label the application and measurement interval
Alien Technology Battery 2.45 GHz Microwave The battery assisted tag can be interfaced with any The tag includes 220 mAh lithium USA
assisted Frequency sensor. Standard version of this tag offers a version battery, which provides many years of
passive tag (MF) tag. comprising an onboard temperature sensor. In this operation
sensor enabled version, the size of memory is 4 kB.
Read/write range is reliable up to 30 m
American Thermal Log-IC e Active HF Used as a watchdog in temperature-sensitive or Reusable or disposable tag. The USA
Instruments RFID tag temperature-regulated environments. The tag particularity of this tag is that it is NFC
allows monitoring the temperature as a function of compliant and data can instantly be
time. Programmable tag to display a warning light if exported to mobile phones
the temperature is below a threshold value
Montalbanotechnology MTsens e HF RFID Temperature monitoring as a function of time. The tag is compatible with the standard Italy
smart label Reading can be performed at any time during RF-ID ISO15693. The battery lifetime is at
lifetime. The tag acquires temperature data as a least four months
function of time. The data can be read any time
during the life span of the device and also after
battery exhaustion
Savi Sensor tag 433 MHz Active RFID Temperature and humidity monitoring of metal 4 years battery lifespan with a working USA
sensor tag containers during transportation and storage. Other range of 100 m
sensors such as light and shock sensors are available
and used to monitor the security and integrity of
shipments. Real time alarm is provided
Microstrain EmbedSense 125 kHz Passive Temperature monitoring up to 150  C. Designed for Reading distances are typically in the USA
RFID tag rotating machines, smart structures and medical range of 25e50 mm
devices. Suitable for harsh environments
Axcess International Active sensor 315 MHz Active RFID Temperature, humidity or radiation monitoring and Operating life is around 1e3 years and USA
family tags data saving. Person and vehicles identification the range is around 10 m
depending on the model
Bioett Biosensor e Bar code Temperature monitoring as a function of time Electric signal of the sensor is modified Sweden
combined according to mesurand
to passive
RFID tag
Evigia EV524 2.4 GHz Temperature, humidity and vibration monitoring. Operational life of battery is 2.5 years USA
Alarm alert when threshold values are exceeded that can reach 4 years with bigger long-
life package. 60 m reading range
Bisa Active tag 2.45 GHz Active tags Temperature monitoring. Other sensors may be Reading range is between 30 and 50 m China
included such as vibration sensor to detect
vibrations and impacts. Acceleration can also be
measured
G2 microsystems G2C501 e Active UHF Motion, temperature, security, shock, humidity, ISO24730-2 readers compatible USA
tag radiation or pressure monitoring with the
appropriate sensor. Tag waking option included.
Data storage on chip memory or external memory
Identec solutions i-Q32T e Active UHF Temperature monitoring (internal or external Reading range up to 30 m for hand held USA
tag temperature sensors) defined on fixed time readers and up to 100 m for fixed
intervals readers. Battery life over 6 years
Scanpak's TTB-434-01 434 MHz Active tag Light, pressure, temperature or weight sensor Reading distance of 100 m or more Canada
depending on models including tamper, battery
level and shock sensors, with waking up option
Oridaoa CROSS-RFID 860- Passive tag Structural health monitoring, strain, vibration, Reading distance up to 100 m France
960 MHz corrosion, temperature, industrial process control,
pressure, Ph, level
TagSysb ARIO DM, 13.56 MHz, Active and Identification and traceability Tags are ISO18000 compliant France
LinTRAK C 860 passive tag
e960 MHz
Ela Innovation Activec COIN T, RH 433 MHz Active tag Temperature, relative humidity sensor Reading distance of 80 m. Lifetime of 10 France
years
c
Ela Innovation Active THINLINE 433 MHz Active tag Motion sensor Reading distance of 80 m. Lifetime of 4 France
MOV years
d
Tageos EOS-500 865- Passive tag Logistic, asset tracking and apparel Reading distance of 10 m. 100% paper France
956 MHz based and low cost
a
http://www.oridao.com/.
b
http://www.tagsysrfid.com/en-EN/home.
c
http://www.ela.fr/.
d
http://www.tageos.com/.
 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
example, Food Sentinel System developed a sensor able to detect
various microbial toxins by an irreversible color change of the in-
dicator. Toxin Guard incorporates antibodies into plastic packaging
films. When antibodies encounter a target pathogen, the packaging
material displays a clear visual signal (color change) that alerts the
consumer (Ahvenainen, 2003). Bioett has developed a system
based on a biosensor for temperature monitoring. It monitors the
accumulated effect of temperature on products over time. Toxin
Guard™, another biosensor based on the incorporation of anti-
bodies into plastic films was developed by ToxinAlert Inc (Yam &
Miltz, 2005).
It should not be disregarded that the broad of food-borne in-
fections is constantly changing over time. Most pathogens are un-
der control but new ones have emerged. Hence, accurate, online, in-
situ sensing and analysis of contaminants, detection and identifi-
cation of pathogens, and monitoring of post-processing food
quality parameters are rapidly needed. Consequently, future trends
in coupling biosensors to RFID technology are deeply foreseen.
Time Temperature Indicator (TTI): Temperature monitoring
has long been used in supply chains, through the use of mechanical
thermometers (glass bulbs filled with alcohol, vapor pressure or
liquid expansion, bimetallic blades or coils) and electronic (vari-
able-resistance sensor, thermocouples, semiconductor probes, in-
tegrated circuit for measuring temperature) thermometers
(Taoukis et al., 2011). All these systems are the pioneers in the
domain but since a couple of years, TTIs have emerged.
TTIs are typically small self-adhesive labels attached to food
packaging or containers, used for the monitoring of cold chain, by
measuring and recording temperature to have the history of the
food product found in the package. These active “smart labels” are
cheap and can be used as a warning in case of temperature change
for frozen and chilled foods (Taoukis & Labuza, 1989; Vanderroost
et al., 2014), which results in an irreversible modification of the
TTI sensor. These are due to mechanical, chemical, polymerization,
pH change enzymatic or microbiological changes, and are usually
expressed as a mechanical deformation, color development, or
color movement of the indicator. Thus, TTI gives information on
whether a threshold temperature has been exceeded over time
and/or estimates the time a product has exceeded the threshold
temperature (record of product history). TTIs are also considered as
indirect indicators of food quality in intelligent packaging. No cor-
relation between the TTI response and the behavior of food exists
but a single visual evaluation indicating the quality of the food
products.
A non exhaustive list of TTI systems that are commercially
available are represented in Table 4 (Realini & Marcos, 2014;
Taoukis et al., 2011).
4.2. Food quality monitoring systems interfaced with RFID tags
TTI interfaced with RFID: An important advance in the RFID
Table 4
Commercially available time temperature indicators.
Company or product Reaction and indicators
name
Vitsab International Color change by enzymatic hydrolysis of a substrate
Traceo-Cryolog Microbial degradation of a substrate
Fresh-Check Polymerization of monomers
3M MonitorMark Running out of a blue compound on blotters
Innolabel Timestrip Change in color from white to blue
CoolVu Food Color change from silver to white. The higher the storage temperature, the faster the Food industry, pharmaceuticals and vaccines
fading
CheckPoint Color change due to enzymatic reaction
99
technology is the integration of TTI with RFID tags. The combina-
tion of the two elements results in a better monitoring and man-
agement of the supply chain. It also increases cost saving due to less
product wasted. RFID coupled with TTIs are able to record infor-
mation about temperature at constant time intervals and facilitate
the management by recording data independently, which in turn
improve the supply chain management. This progress results in a
more convenient and precise temperature tracking system than
traditional temperature management performed by thermometers
or compact temperature loggers. These were done for various
perishable foods particularly chilled and cold fish (Taoukis &
Labuza, 1989), dairy products (Shellhammer & Singh, 1991), meat
and poultry and frozen fruit and vegetables. Research activities
performed on this subject are given in Table 5.
The advantages of this coupling are:
 Cheaper TTI-RFID tags than temperature loggers;
 More precision than traditional temperature measuring
systems;
 The ability to record the history of the cold chain;
 The ability to provide real time information with the coupling of
the system to GPS and mobile networks;
 And the withdrawal of manual operation decreasing labor cost
(Atsushi & Kentaro, 2006; Kumari et al., 2015).
However, it is important to ensure the readability of the RFID
tags inside containers, pallets and boxes. As specified previously,
radio waves being absorbed by water and ice contents, and re-
flected by metallic surfaces, can be a critical issue. In spite of this,
TTI RFID systems ensure a proper control which contributes to the
adequate transportation and storage for the produce optimum
condition.
Humidity sensors: Humidity sensors determine the amount of
water vapor present in an atmosphere (Chen & Lu, 2005). The use of
this type of sensor with RFID tags might be beneficial in several
sectors namely the agrifood sector, the medical sector and sectors
dealing with perishable/vulnerable goods to environmental con-
ditions. In the objective of performing relative humidity moni-
toring, and transmitting the humidity records to the user, humidity
sensors have been developed and interfaced with RFID tags. Oprea
et al. (2007) developed capacitive humidity sensors from
polyethylene-naphthalate and polyimide on flexible RFID labels
obtaining a good sensitivity of 21 fF/%RH between 20% and 90% of
relative humidity. Kim et al. (2009) worked on nano-pored anodic
aluminum oxide to be interfaced to RFID tags of different thick-
nesses in the objective of increasing the sensitivity to relative hu-
midity. Capacitive measurements were performed and high
sensitivity values ranging from 42 fF/%RH to 483 fF/%RH were ob-
tained depending on the sensor thickness and voltage applied.
However, Chen and Lu (2005) specify that long exposure to relative
humidity may cause degradation of the sensitivity (due to widening
Application
Salads
Salads and fruits
Ham packaging
Perishable food products, vaccines
Fresh food and vegetables, blood temperature
monitoring
Seafood products
100 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103

Table 5
Examples of research performed on TTIs.

Application Description Reference

Shipping trial conducted for temperature
mapping of pineapples pallets
Cold chain monitoring
Cold chain monitoring
RFID for temperature recording
Real time monitoring of food products
Monitoring of environmental conditions
A comparison was made between traditional temperature data loggers and RFID systems. The experience (Amador et al.,
showed that RFID systems had a superior performance 2009).
Temperature sensors were embedded with RFID tags (Atsushi &
Kentaro, 2006).
Monitoring of a cold chain of frozen foods (production, transportation, storage and delivery), by making (Gras, 2006)
use of semi-passive and active RFID tags coupled to temperature sensors
Traceability and temperature monitoring of sea food products, dairy products, beverages, horticultural (Costa et al.,
produce 2012)
TTI RFID tags coupled to ground positioning system (GPS) and mobile communication system which (Hu et al., 2013)
provide the real time information about food products
Use of RFID combined with online decision support systems for real-time monitoring. Prediction of the (Wang, Kwok, &
shelf-life of the products can be performed according to the temperature data received from the sensor Ip, 2010)
tags

of pores) and a drift in capacitance characteristics may occur.
Salmero n et al. (2014) developed a humidity sensor based on pol-
yimide substrate to be coupled to UHF RFID tags. In their work, they
used serpentine electrodes printed on the polyamide substrate
giving a sensitivity of 100 fF/%RH, which is significantly higher than
the sensitivity of 4.5 fF/%RH obtained by Rivadeneyra et al. (2014)
who used the same sensor, but having interdigital electrodes. A
humidity sensor connected to the chip of a smart tag has been used
for real time traceability and cold chain monitoring for food
application by Abad et al. (2009). The system has been tested with
seafood products found in polystyrene boxes. The RFID smart tag
offers the possibility to read the temperature and humidity without
opening the boxes which preserve the packaging integrity.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide indicators: Gas indicators provide
an alternative, non invasive approach to traditional destructive
techniques to assess packaging integrity such as leaking seals in
modified atmosphere packaging. They provide information about
altered gas concentration such as oxygen (Vu & Won, 2013). RFID
coupled to an oxygen sensor was used for monitoring the integrity
of packaging by developing an oxygen sensing luminophore and an
ultra violet led for generating luminescence. The change in color of
the sensing luminophore is directly related to a change in oxygen
concentration, and the whole system is connected to a RFID tag
(Martínez-Olmos et al., 2013). Jang and Won (2014) worked on the
development of an oxygen indicator having a long life span to
evaluate how well oxygen scavengers/absorbers removed all oxy-
gen within a package and for monitoring package leakage. The
oxygen indicators are activated by a difference in pressure and used
in intelligent packaging applications. Espinosa et al. (2010) devel-
oped gas sensitive coatings manufactured from metal oxide layers
(tin oxide or tungsten oxide), onboard of a RFID flexible tag, in the
objective of monitoring climatic fruit during transport and vending.
Carbon dioxide sensors have also been developed, where the de-
gree of fermentation of vegetable products during storage and
distribution was detected by a carbon dioxide absorbent and a
chemical dye in a polymeric film (Hong & Park, 2000). Some other
examples are the interaction of carbon dioxide and humidity with
amino group for carbon dioxide sensing at room relative humidity
(Stegmeier et al., 2009). Endres, Hartinger, Schwaiger, Gmelch, and
Roth (1999) developed a capacitive carbon dioxide sensor system
which suppresses the relative humidity effects. In the studies of
Stegmeier et al. (2009) and Endres et al. (1999), the sensing layer
used is heteropolysiloxane which is a synthetic polymer.
Chemical sensors: Chemical sensors are used for the moni-
toring of fruits and vegetables, as the detection and quantification
of ethanol and ethylene are important for food packaging applica-
tions. Sensors such as resistive metal oxide sensors have been
developed into micro-electromechanical systems ensuring low
power consumptions and reduction in size, but unfortunately, the
system drawback is the lack of specificity of the sensor (Ruiz-Garcia
& Lunadei, 2011). By integrating directly the sensor (based on Pt-
doped, Au-doped tin oxide and Au-doped tungsten oxide) to the
RFID reader, onboard sensing for monitoring fruit quality can be
performed (Vergara et al., 2007). Potyrailo and Surman (2013)
developed a gas and vapor sensor with self correction of uncon-
trolled fluctuations of temperature, without the need of integrating
a separate uncoated reference sensor or a separate temperature
sensor. Significant advances have been made in miniaturization
and in the development of low-cost chemical sensors with alter-
ation of optical, amperometric, potentiometric and conductometric
properties, detecting for instance potassium ion concentrations.
These sensors are directly implemented on RFID tags (Steinberg,
Kassal, et al., 2014). Electrochemical detection of volatile chem-
icals has been developed and stands on the resistance changes of
the RFID tag circuitry, inducing changes in the frequency and
amplitude of the output signal. The sensor used is polymer/carbon
black based (18 wt%/82 wt%) that detects toluene (Fiddes & Yan,
2013). Zampolli et al. (2008) reported on a chemical sensor based
on metal oxide semi conductors for gas detection, coupled to
flexible RFID tags, having ultra-low-power consumptions. One
recent study for monitoring acidic and basic volatile concentration
is on the development of a pH-electrode based wireless passive
sensor. The principle is based on the change in voltage of the pH-
electrode with changes in pH of the hydrogel used as sensor,
upon detection of ammonia and acetic acid (Bhadra et al., 2015).
Other smart tags with chemical sensors have been studied and
developed for potentiometric responses (Kassal et al., 2013),

conductometric responses (Steinberg, Zura, et al., 2014), optoelec-
tronic interface (Steinberg & Steinberg, 2009) and photometer
based (Steinberg, Kassal, et al., 2014). Potyrailo & Morris in 2007
worked on an original concept. They used chemically sensitive
films of Nafion (family of perfluorosulfonated polymers) coated
onto a conventional passive RFID tag working at 13.56 MHz. The
impedance and frequency shift of the signal from the RFID antenna
was measured. The direct use of the sensor on the RFID antenna
ensures a low cost chemically sensitive tag and no special tags have
to be designed to be used with the sensor unlike other approaches.
Sensors designed using the RFID antenna: These types of
sensors offer the possibility to develop low cost tags. Few studies
are based on this principle as it degrades the RFID performance,
with a potential loss of the basic principle of RFID (traceability).
However, if the information transfer is guaranteed, the develop-
ment of such smart RFID tags would be a great improvement.
Bhattacharyya, Floerkemeier, and Sarma (2010) use the RFID tag
antenna itself as a sensor, by making use of the knowledge con-
cerning the degradation of the RFID performance in close proximity
 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103
to metals and fluids. They focused on the tag antenna based sensing
criterion to map a change in the level of liquid in a glass to changes
in the electrical properties of the RFID tag antenna. As water is a
polar dielectric, the molecules tend to orient themselves so as to
cancel out most of the incoming electric field from the RFID reader.
In this context, the usual inconvenience being the degradation of
the RFID performance due to water is used as a possible advantage
to achieve a sensor. A displacement sensor based on the effects of
deformation on the backscattered power has also been studied
(Bhattacharyya, Floerkemeier, & Sarma, 2009). Nearly the same
principle is used by Potyrailo and Morris (2007). They used a sensor
coated antenna for chemical detection. The detection principle re-
mains the same, which is a change in the backscattered signal of the
RFID antenna, resulting from a change in its electrical properties
(impedance amplitude and frequency shift).
4.3. Application of RFID sensor tags
Diversification of products, large scale production and
increasing data for distribution emphasizes the applications of RFID
sensor tags. As specified in this review, one of the pros of the
technology is the tremendous amount of data that can be processed
in a minimum period of time, increasing efficiency, reducing thus
waste and cost. Coupled to sensors, the major applications of RFID
sensor tag technology would be in the food industry for monitoring
packaging headspace. As such, it is well known that food degra-
dation markers are released when products reach their “end of life”
and are no longer consumable (Castro-Gira ldez, Botella, Toldr
a, &
Fito, 2010; Castro-Gira ldez, Fito & Fito, 2010). Very often, these
markers are released after the expiry date of the food products.
Monitoring these food degradation markers would bring precious
information about the quality of food products namely green and
ripe fruits, and expired food products. Furthermore, it would be an
effective way to know the efficiency of packaging designed in a
tailored manner (Realini & Marcos, 2014) on food products, and the
effects of antimicrobial agents (Duncan, 2011; Mascheroni, Guillard,
Gastaldi, Gontard, & Chalier, 2011) on food products.
Moreover, fish, meat, vegetables and fruits require specific
conditions of temperature (cold chain monitoring) and relative
humidity for their conservation and transport (Kumari et al., 2015).
Sensors would help in the objective of having optimum conditions
for their preservation, and simultaneously provide large data
treatment capacity through “classical RFID” functioning.
4.4. Technical challenges
The integration of sensors on RFID tags is, as it can be imagined,
a challenge and difficulties may arise especially in the food sector.
The use of polymers as sensors may be a bottleneck as it should
respect norms and directives in the public health sector. Therefore,
special attention is required for the population suffering from food
allergies (for example against particular natural polymers) during
the research and development phase. Thus, another question may
be raised, which is about the integration of the RFID sensor tags in
the packaging. How should the tag be placed, how should the an-
tenna be designed, how should the chip be fixed and how should
the sensors be integrated within these elements. All these technical
challenges should be studied to avoid direct contact of food prod-
ucts with the whole RFID element.
Cost is a main hurdle in the widespread use of RFID technology.
It should be kept as low as possible so as not to impact the final cost
of food products. A high cost would not be appropriate as it would
lead to a modification in consumers' buying habits. The cost of
passive RFID tags at the early beginning was around 50 cents
(Ahvenainen, 2003; Ruiz-Garcia & Lunadei, 2011). Nowadays, the
101
cost of a passive 96-bit EPC tag (chip and antenna mounted on a
substrate) has been decreased down to 5e10 U.S cents (Roberts,
2006). If the tag is embedded in a thermal transfer label on
which companies can print a bar code, the price rises to 15 cents
and up. However, most companies that sell RFID tags do not quote
prices because pricing is based on volume, the amount of memory
on the tag and the packaging of the tag (whether it is encased in
plastic or embedded in a label, for instance), whether the tag is
active or passive and much more. The objective of the RFID sensor
tags is not to exceed these costs, but in the best of cases, reduce
them, regarding the large number of products that can be equipped
with this new technology.
The environment is also of main interest as the production and
use of RFID tags grows. There is a need for recycling programs for
the RFID sensor tags. In addition, when tags are attached to prod-
ucts and improperly removed, the impact on the recycling pro-
cesses could be substantial. Materials such as adhesives, chips,
pieces of metal from the antenna and conductive inks can affect the
recycling process of paper, plastic and metal (Foley, 2006; Thomas,
2008). Thus, materials used during the research and development
phase should be one of the most important considerations, and the
use of low-impacting elements is crucial. In addition, the collect of
the RFID sensor tags should be facilitated after their disposal by
consumers.
5. Conclusion
RFID is a very promising and rapidly developing technology,
improving the management of information flow within supply
chains, bringing quality and security in the agrifood sector. They
present numerous advantages over traditional labels and barcodes
and are becoming progressively popular. The increase in applica-
tions, together with the improvement and optimization of the RFID
tags, foreshadow a decrease in the cost of tags, resulting in an in-
crease in market prospects.
The reasons for RFID versatility and logistic advancements are
attributed to the possibility of coupling diverse typologies of radio
frequency smart tags to different environmental sensors to ensure
traceability and thus, food quality and safety. Different types of
sensors have been developed followed by a market implantation.
They are TTI sensors, food packaging integrity sensors such as gas
sensors, among others.
According to the present study, it is noticeable that RFID coupled
to sensors has a great potential and may not only meet our needs
and demand for safe food products, but also reduce food waste. In
the wake of this review, sensor coated passive UHF RFID tags could
be developed as an applicative having a good compromise between
cost, communication rate, and VOC (Volatile Organic Compound)
detection. The sensing principle could be based on the combined
effects of sensor coating together with the effects of markers of food
degradation on the dielectric properties of the sensor, which
modify the electrical properties of the antenna according to type of
markers. The addition of the sensor results in an added value to
conventional passive of active RFID tags.
Funding sources
Agence National de la Recherche (ANR) was the funding source.
Acknowledgement
Authors thank the “Agence Nationale de la Recherche” (a French
funding agency) for funding this study within the framework of
NextGenPack project.
102 F. Bibi et al. / Trends in Food Science & Technology 62 (2017) 91e103

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