Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-wxk4p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-29T23:10:01.124Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Review of RFID-based sensing in monitoring physical stimuli in smart packaging for food-freshness applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2019

Tharindu Athauda Open the ORCID record for Tharindu Athauda [Opens in a new window]  and
Nemai Chandra Karmakar
Tharindu Athauda*
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Nemai Chandra Karmakar
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Tharindu Athauda, Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. E-mail: Tharindu.Athauda@monash.edu
Get access

Abstract

The changes in physical environmental parameters have severe impacts on food safety and security. Therefore, it is important to understand micro-level physical parameter changes occurring inside food packages to ensure food safety and security. The emergence of smart packaging has helped to track and inform the specific changes such as a change in humidity, temperature, and pH taken place in the microenvironment in the food package. Moreover, these key physical parameters help determine the freshness of the food as well. Radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based sensors are an emerging technology that has been used in smart packaging to detect changes in the physical stimuli in order to determine food freshness. This review looks at the key environmental factors that are responsible for food safety and food freshness, the role of smart packaging with sensors that can measure changes in physical stimuli in the microclimate and the detailed review of RFID-based sensors used in smart packaging for food-freshness applications and their existing limitations.

Keywords

Food-freshness indicatorsRFID sensingsmart packaging

Information

Type
Review Article
Information
Wireless Power Transfer , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , September 2019 , pp. 161 - 174
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

[1]Q. Kilcoy Pastoral Company, 14 September 2016 (2017). Private communication.Google Scholar
[2]A. B. o. A. a. R. E. a. Sciences (2013). Implementation of improvements to the National Livestock Identification System for sheep and goats: Consultation regulation impact statement. Available at: http://www.daff.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/abares/nlis/nlis9oct13.pdfGoogle Scholar
[3]Zhongxiang Fang, YZ and Zhang, M. “Current Practice and Innovations in Meat Packaging,” pp. 2–97.Google Scholar
[4]Consumergoods.com. (2017) New Ways to Ensure Food Safety with RFID. Available at https://consumergoods.com/new-ways-ensure-food-safety-rfidGoogle Scholar
[5]F. RFID Journal (2017) Wal-Mart Begins RFID Process Changes. Available at http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?1385Google Scholar
[6]Haroop, DP (2017) Printed and Chipless RFID Forecasts, Technologies & Players 2011–2021. Available at http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/printed-and-chipless-rfid-forecasts-technologies-and-players-2011-2021-000254.aspGoogle Scholar
[7]F. S. I. C.-. Australia (2017). People at Risk. Available at http://foodsafety.asn.au/people-at-risk/Google Scholar
[8]Gunders, D (2017) Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. Available at https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdfGoogle Scholar
[9]Eom, K-H, Hyun, K-H, Lin, S and Kim, J-W (2014) The meat freshness monitoring system using the smart RFID tag. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks 10(7). https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/591812Google Scholar
[10]F. S. A. N. Zealand (2017) Food Safety Standard. Available at http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/industry/safetystandards/Pages/default.aspxGoogle Scholar
[11]F. S. A. N. Z. (2016) Safe Food Australia. A Guide to the Food Safety Standards. Available at: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/publications/Pages/safefoodaustralia3rd16.aspxGoogle Scholar
[12]Ryynänen, S (1995) The electromagnetic properties of food materials: a review of the basic principles. Journal of Food Engineering 26, 409–429.Google Scholar
[13]E. V. and Nyfors, P (1989) Industrial Microwave Sensors. Norwood: Artech House.Google Scholar
[14]Dobkin, DM (2008) Chapter 5 – UHF RFID tags. In Dobkin DM (ed.), The RF in RFID. Burlington: Newnes, pp. 195–239.Google Scholar
[15]Engelder, DS and Buffler, CR (1991) Measuring dielectric properties of food products at microwave frequencies. Microwave World 12, 6–15.Google Scholar
[16]A. Technologies (2006) Agilent basics of measuring the dielectric properties of materials. In ed. © 2006 Printed in USA: Agilent Technologies, Inc., 2005, 5989-2589EN, pp. 3–28. www.wgilent.com (web address).Google Scholar
[17]Skocik, P and Neumann, P (2015) Measurement of complex permittivity in free space. Procedia Engineering 100, 100–104.Google Scholar
[18]Nguyen, SD, Le, NN, Lam, PT, Fribourg-Blanc, E, Dang, CM and Tedjini, S (2015) “A wireless sensor for food quality detection by UHF RFID passive tags,” in 2015 International Conference on Advanced Technologies for Communications (ATC), pp. 258–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19]Biji, KB, Mohan, CO, Ravishankar, CN and Srinivasa Gopal, TK (2015) Smart packaging systems for food applications: a review. Journal of Food Science and Technology 52, 6125–6135.Google Scholar
[20]M. G. C. America (2017) Ageless Oxygen Absorbers. Available at http://ageless.mgc-a.com/Google Scholar
[21]B. Ltd. (2015) Food products: Company Overview Bioka Ltd. Available at https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=3759916Google Scholar
[22]S. A. F. care (2013) Dri-Loc® Absorbent Pads for Produce. Available at http://www.cryovac.com/na/en/food-packaging-products/driloc-produce.aspxGoogle Scholar
[23]G. Sealedpac, Germany (2015, 2018) TenderPac. Available at https://www.sealpacinternational.com/applications_details.php?id=29&language=ukGoogle Scholar
[24]AddMaster (2018) Biomaster anti microbial packaging. Available at https://www.addmaster.co.uk/biomaster/industries/packagingGoogle Scholar
[25]Andrew, SP, Smith, WJ and RowsellJohnson, Liz (2009) A New Palladium-Based Ethylene Scavenger to Control Ethylene-Induced Ripening of Climacteric Fruit. Sonning Common, Reading RG4 9NH, UK: Matthey Technology Centre, Blounts Court.Google Scholar
[26]Timestrip (2016) Timestrip. Available at https://timestrip.com/Google Scholar
[27]Selman, JD. “Active Food Packaging – Thermax,” Time temperature indicators.Google Scholar
[28]TTI (2014) Freshcheck. Available at https://www.packagingnetwork.com/doc/fresh-check-indicator-labels-assure-eatzis-cu-0001Google Scholar
[29]Label, VT (2017) Check point TTI. Available at http://vitsab.com/en/tti-label/Google Scholar
[30]Van Loey, A, Hendrickx, M, De Cordt, S, Haentjens, T and Tobback, P (1996) Quantitative evaluation of thermal processes using time-temperature integrators. Trends in Food Science & Technology 7, 16–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[31]Fuertes, G, Soto, I, Carrasco, R, Vargas, M, Sabattin, J and Lagos, C (2016) Intelligent packaging systems: sensors and nanosensors to monitor food quality and safety. Journal of Sensors 2016, 8. Art. no. 4046061.Google Scholar
[32]RFID4USTORE (2016) Caen Easy2log Low Cost Semi-Passive UHF Logger Tag. Available at https://rfid4ustore.com/caen-easy2log-low-cost-semi-passive-uhf-logger-tag/Google Scholar
[33]Lidong, Z, Yingkun, W and Liang, L (2014) Intelligent box system based on RFID positioning. Available at: https://patents.google.com/patent/CN203659143U/en#citedByGoogle Scholar
[34]temptrip.com. (2018) Temptrip RFID Tag Available at http://www.temptrip.com/tagsandreaders.htmlGoogle Scholar
[35]SensorQ (2017) Food Quality Sensor International. Available at http://www.qualityassurancemag.com/product/sensorq-29988/Google Scholar
[36]Wadehra, A and Patil, PS (2016) Application of electronic tongues in food processing. Analytical Methods 10.1039/C5AY02724A. 8, 474–480.Google Scholar
[37]Tahara, Y and Toko, K (2013) Electronic tongues – a review. IEEE Sensors Journal 13, 3001–3011.Google Scholar
[38]Chen, Y, Fu, G, Zilberman, Y, Ruan, W, Ameri, SK, Miller, E and Sonkusale, S (2017) “Disposable colorimetric geometric barcode sensor for food quality monitoring,” in 2017 19th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (TRANSDUCERS), pp. 1422–1424.Google Scholar
[39]N.-U. N. L. o. Medicine (2017) Volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Available at https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/chemicals-and-contaminants/volatile-organic-compuounds-vocsGoogle Scholar
[40]myfoodsniffer.com. (2017) Food Sniffer. Available at http://www.myfoodsniffer.com/Google Scholar
[41]Foodlogistics.com. (2014) Electronic Nose’ Analyzes Spoilage Levels to Determine Food Safety. Available at https://www.foodlogistics.com/safety/news/11479736/electronic-nose-analyzes-spoilage-levels-to-determine-food-safety#&gid=1&pid=1Google Scholar
[42]Potyrailo, RA, Nagraj, N, Tang, Z, Mondello, FJ, Surman, C and Morris, W (2012) Battery-free radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors for food quality and safety. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 60, 8535–8543.Google ScholarPubMed
[43]Belsey, KE, Parry, AVS, Rumens, CV, Ziai, MA, Yeates, SG, Batchelor, JC and Holder, SJ (2017) Switchable disposable passive RFID vapour sensors from inkjet printed electronic components integrated with PDMS as a stimulus responsive material. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 10.1039/C6TC05509E. 5, 3167–3175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[44]Occhiuzzi, C, Rida, A, Marrocco, G and Tentzeris, M (2011) RFID passive gas sensor integrating carbon nanotubes. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 59, 2674–2684.Google Scholar
[45]Occhiuzzi, C, Rida, A, Marrocco, G and Tentzeris, MM (2011) CNT-based RFID passive gas sensor, in 2011 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, pp. 1–1.Google Scholar
[46]Nguyen, NH and Chung, W (2017) “Battery-less pork freshness real-time monitoring system with high efficient RF energy scavenging,” in 2017 International Conference on Applied System Innovation (ICASI), pp. 235–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[47]Huang, Q, Dong, L and Wang, L (2016) LC passive wireless sensors toward a wireless sensing platform: status, prospects, and challenges. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 25, 822–841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[48]Tan, E, Ng, W, Shao, R, Pereles, B and Ong, K (2007) A wireless, passive sensor for quantifying packaged food quality. Sensors 7, 1747.Google ScholarPubMed
[49]Bechtel, PJ and Wu, TH (2008) Ammonia, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, and trimethylamine oxide from raw and processed fish by-products. Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology 17, 27–38.Google Scholar
[50]Honari, MM, Saghlatoon, H, Mirzavand, R and Mousavi, P (2018) “An RFID Sensor for Early Expiry Detection of Packaged Foods,” in 2018 18th International Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics (ANTEM), pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
[51]Yuan, M, Ghannam, R, Karadimas, P and Heidari, H (2018) “Flexible RFID Patch for Food Spoilage Monitoring,” in 2018 IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Postgraduate Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PrimeAsia), pp. 68–71.Google Scholar
[52]Karuppuswami, S, Matta, LL, Alocilja, EC and Chahal, P (2018) A wireless RFID compatible sensor Tag using gold nanoparticle markers for pathogen detection in the liquid food supply chain. IEEE Sensors Letters 2, 1–4.Google Scholar
[53]Chetanraj, KY, Shushrutha, KS, Phani, AR and Naveen, CS (2017) “The design of active RFID for food quality and safety sensors,” in 2017 International Conference on Smart Technologies for Smart Nation (SmartTechCon), pp. 1124–1127.Google Scholar
[54]V. T. R. C. o. Finland (2015) Sensor detects spoilage of food. Available at https://phys.org/news/2015-05-sensor-spoilage-food.htmlGoogle Scholar
[55]E. U. o. Technology (2013) Invention opens the way to packaging that monitors food freshness. Available at https://phys.org/news/2013-02-packaging-food-freshness.htmlGoogle Scholar
[56]S (2018) “Design of Intelligent Detection System for Food Spoilage,” in 2018 11th International Conference on Intelligent Computation Technology and Automation (ICICTA), pp. 190–194.Google Scholar
[57]Flynn, BO, Donno, MD, Barrett, C, Robinson, C and Riordan, AO (2017) “Smart microneedle sensing systems for security in agriculture, food and the environment (SAFE),” in 2017 IEEE SENSORS, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar
[58]Bettazzi, F, Lucarelli, F, Palchetti, I, Berti, F, Marrazza, G and Mascini, M (2008) Disposable electrochemical DNA-array for PCR amplified detection of hazelnut allergens in foodstuffs. Analytica Chimica Acta 614, 93–102.Google ScholarPubMed
[59]Paniel, N, Radoi, A and Marty, J-L (2010) Development of an electrochemical biosensor for the detection of aflatoxin M1 in milk. Sensors 10, 9439–9448.Google ScholarPubMed
[60]Kumar, P, Mohanty, SK, Guruswamy, S, Smith, YR and Misra, M (2017) Detection of food decay products using functionalized one-dimensional titania nanotubular arrays. IEEE Sensors Letters 1, 1–4.Google Scholar
[61]Bhadra, S (2015) Electrode-Based Wireless Passive pH Sensors with Applications to Bioprocess and Food Spoilage Monitoring. Winnipeg: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba.Google Scholar
[62]Yamazoe, N and Shimizu, Y (1986) Humidity sensors: principles and applications. Sensors and Actuators 10, 379–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[63]Keat Ghee, O and Craig, AG (2000) A resonant printed-circuit sensor for remote query monitoring of environmental parameters. Smart Materials and Structures 9, 421.Google Scholar
[64]De Queiroz, AAA, Soares, DAW, Trzesniak, P and Abraham, GA (2001) Resistive-type humidity sensors based on PVP-Co and PVP-I2 complexes. Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics 39, 459–469.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[65]Penza, M and Cassano, G (2000) Relative humidity sensing by PVA-coated dual resonator SAW oscillator. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 68, 300–306.Google Scholar
[66]Nair, R, Perret, E, Tedjini, S and Barron, T (2012) “A humidity sensor for passive chipless RFID applications,” in 2012 IEEE International Conference on RFID-Technologies and Applications (RFID-TA), pp. 29–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[67]Wang, Y, Jia, Y, Chen, Q and Wang, Y (2008) A passive wireless temperature sensor for harsh environment applications. IEEE Sensors 8, 7982–7995.Google ScholarPubMed
[68]F. S. I. Council (2016) Temperature Danger Zones. Available at http://foodsafety.asn.au/topic/temperature-danger-zone/Google Scholar
[69]Vena, A, Sydänheimo, L, Ukkonen, L and Tentzeris, MM (2014) “A fully inkjet-printed chipless RFID gas and temperature sensor on paper,” in 2014 IEEE RFID Technology and Applications Conference (RFID-TA), pp. 115–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[70]Girbau, D, Ramos, Á, Lazaro, A, Rima, S and Villarino, R (2012) Passive wireless temperature sensor based on time-coded UWB chipless RFID tags. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 60, 3623–3632.Google Scholar
[71]Bhattacharyya, R, Floerkemeier, C and Sarma, S (2010) “RFID tag antenna based temperature sensing,” in 2010 IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID 2010), pp. 8–15.Google Scholar
[72]Bhattacharyya, R, Floerkemeier, C, Sarma, S and Deavours, D (2011) “RFID tag antenna based temperature sensing in the frequency domain,” in 2011 IEEE International Conference on RFID, pp. 70–77.Google Scholar
[73]Bhattacharyya, R, Leo, CD, Floerkemeier, C, Sarma, S and Anand, L (2010) “RFID tag antenna based temperature sensing using shape memory polymer actuation,” in 2010 IEEE Sensors, pp. 2363–2368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[74]Nemai Chandra, K, Emran Md, A and Jhantu Kumar, S (2016) Chipless RFID temperature memory and multiparameter sensor. In Karmakar, NC (ed.), Chipless RFID Sensors. Wiley Online Library, p. 1.Google Scholar
[75]Martinez, M and Weide, Dvd (2017) “Chipless RFID temperature threshold sensor and detection method,” in 2017 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), pp. 61–66.Google Scholar
[76]Hongwei, S, Lilan, L and Yumei, Z (2007) “Fully integrated passive UHF RFID tag with temperature sensor for environment monitoring,” in 2007 7th International Conference on ASIC, pp. 360–363.Google Scholar
[77]Traille, A, Bouaziz, S, Pinon, S, Pons, P, Aubert, H, Boukabache, A and Tentzeris, M (2011) “A wireless passive RCS-based temperature sensor using liquid metal and microfluidics technologies,” in 2011 41st European Microwave Conference, pp. 45–48.Google Scholar
[78]Bhattacharyya, R, Floerkemeier, C and Sarma, S (2010) Low-cost, ubiquitous RFID-tag-antenna-based sensing. Proceedings of the IEEE 98, 1593–1600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[79]Hillier, A, Makarovaite, V, Holder, SJ, Gourlay, CW and Batchelor, JC (2017) “A passive UHF RFID pH sensor (Smart polymers for wireless medical sensing devices),” in Loughborough Antennas & Propagation Conference (LAPC 2017), pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
[80]Potyrailo, RA and Wortley, T (2011) “Passive multivariable RFID pH sensors,” in 2011 IEEE International Conference on RFID-Technologies and Applications, pp. 533–536.Google Scholar
[81]Quintero, AV, Molina-Lopez, F, Smits, ECP, Danesh, E, van den Brand, J, Persaud, K, Oprea, A, Barsan, N, Weimar, U, de Rooij, NF and Briand, D (2016) Smart RFID label with a printed multisensor platform for environmental monitoring. Flexible and Printed Electronics 1, 025003.Google Scholar