RFID Tags to Track Your Food 122
Angry_Admin writes "According to the article at IT World Canada, 'Recent food security scares have triggered public outcries and intense concern. People want to know exactly what is in their food, and what is done to it by whom. In response, Canada and many other countries are introducing traceability requirements - records that track all links in the food supply chain, from farmers to processors to retailers to consumers. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada agency recently released a policy framework, stating the goal is to make 80 per cent of all food products traceable by 2008.'"
hmmmmph ... (Score:5, Funny)
LOL (Score:1)
if only people knew what happened to their favorite cow/hen from the time it was "medically-pleasent put to sleep" in the "farm" till it reached their "low-carb" bun/plate, they would all go vegan
Re:LOL (Score:1, Funny)
People by and large don't care and won't go vegan, which is why the movement is a minority and always will be. Sorry, but by all means keep pretending that trying makes a difference!
Re:LOL (Score:2)
Make a Vegan drivethrough and I'll be glad to stop going to any of those. I'm a pretty adventurous cook at home, but in the working hours I don't have time to bother.
"if only people knew what happened to their favorite cow/hen from the time it was 'medically-pleasent put to sleep' in the 'farm' till it reached their 'low-carb' bun/plate, they would all go vegan
"All"? Ever the optimist. I've seen the videos, read the books, and I still don'
Re:hmmmmph ... (Score:2)
Re:hmmmmph ... (Score:1)
How Far Back? (Score:2)
Horseshit
Fertilizer
Grass
Cow
Big Mac
and
Horseshit
Fertilizer
Lettuice/Pickle
Big Mac
Or, the less savory, but all too true:
Animal shit
Animal feed
Cow
Big Mac
Either way, I'm guessing people only want the last few steps of the food process monitored. Hearing exactly which animal's ass the fertilizer that grew the plant that either makes our food or fed our food fell out of just doesn't appeal to me.
Imagine if all information was ultimately hyperlinked together. Do we really need to know that
Re:hmmmmph ... (Score:1)
Unbelievable.
Re:hmmmmph ... (Score:2)
Re:hmmmmph ... (Score:1)
this isn't the only problem with the food chain! (Score:5, Insightful)
What's missing in this picture is some approach that makes food safe, period. While it's laudable to want to have our long arms of the law around the whole food chain of command, it hardly addresses (in my opinion) real evil, and general detriment to the humanity collective health. There are products and chemicals in food today that for various percentages of the population cause severe side effects, and potentially (probably) are more dangerous than the highly publicized "contamination" food issues.
If you want an example of one good read about just one chemical (MSG, introduced in many nefarious and hidden forms to our foods), read and branch out on this site [truthinlabeling.org].
The RFID idea doesn't address:
I see what this article talks about as useful in some sense, but the sum total malaise caused by contamination of our food supply with weird (and to many, unknown) chemicals outpaces, outweighs, and almost trumps the money that would be spent on a massive RFID program.
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:3, Funny)
"make sure you're keeping track of the nearest available rest rooms!
When in Australia, you need to check this out: http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/ [toiletmap.gov.au]
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2, Insightful)
MSG [guardian.co.uk]
salts [dhmo.org] (For those that don't get it, ask a nurse about this old saw "The dose makes the poison". Anything, even the most basic element of life, is deadly in excessive quantities.)
"Preservatives" is a little generic. Even salt in its most basic form is a preservative. Sugar is as well. Liquid maple syrup preserves (get this) hardened maple syrup. So, yeah... hmmm... I'll let you all have at this one.
As far as olestra goes, the results of eating too much (dose makes the poison again) are cl
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
You are absolutely correct when you mention "the dose makes the poison" , which I meant implicitly in my post, i.e., the amounts of the stuff in the foods is the problem.
Yes there are many natural occurences of MSG, but there are too many foods with exorbitant amounts of the stuff (almost said xorbitol amounts...). And there is much evidence MSG causes symptoms.
Thanks for the snopes reference on aspartame. I'm already aware there are lots of crazy claims around various chemicals and their effects from i
I disagree (Score:4, Insightful)
Tracking food is very useful when your distribution system is so bad that people are starving because the food isn't making it to market. Talking about the corruption of the food supply is a luxury afforded only to those who have enough food in the first place.
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:1, Funny)
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:5, Informative)
First, let us look at the structure of it. MSG stands for Monosodium Glutamate. It is a salt consisting of a single (mono) sodium ion (Na+) attached to a glutamate ion. Clearly you cannot be alergic to sodium, but what about glutamate?
Glutamate [wikipedia.org], the molecule produced when MSG is dissolved (along with the sodium ion), is required for proper functioning of any animal I've ever studied. It is a neurotransmitter (the principal one used in sight, actually, so if you lacked it you would be blind). It is naturally occuring in the body, and the body is designed to naturally convert glutamate outside of the central nervous system into L-glutamate, which the brain and muscles use for energy. The body produces large ammounts of free glutamate all the time. The point is, if you were alergic to glutamate you would be dead.
But perhaps the above was not convincing enough... Maybe the glutamate from MSG changes the body's glutamate concentration somehow (which it does not). It just so happens that many of the foods people eat on a regular basis are very MSG rich. Do you like parmesan cheese? It contains roughly 1.2 grams of MSG for every cubic centimeter. That is huge! MSG exists in almost any food you eat (brocolli
Double blind study after double blind study has shown that those claiming alergies to MSG were, in fact, either placeboing or alergic to something else. In chinese cooking (notorius for MSG content), several vegetables and spices are used which people would rarely come in contact with in other settings. Several of these are known to be alergenic, and many individuals find themselves blaming MSG for their allergies to other substances.
To boot, MSG is actually healthier for you than the alternative. With MSG you can cut down the sodium content of food drastically. The negative health affects of large sodium intake are real, and MSG is one of the ways that food producers can limit sodium content without cutting back on flavor. The FDA lists MSG as "Generally Regocnized as Safe" [wikipedia.org], the same category as sodium chloride (table salt) and sodium bicarbonate (baking powder).
I love looking at a can of spaghetti-Os... It happily advertises "NO MSG" above the nutrition information, but it contains a whopping 1.78 grams of sodium per 15oz can. It also happens to contain a cheese culture (read MSG rich). Hooray for destroying the elasticity of your arteries! Just avoid those evil artificial salts that are, in fact, naturally occuring in everything you eat anyway.
(please excuse the sole use of wiki, but I cannot link my text books)
His problem isn't ours. (Score:3, Interesting)
My problem with the GP's post -- aside from it's factual claims which I cannot debate one way or the other -- is that it seems to boil down to 'some ingredients are bad for some people, therefore they should be banned.' Or something like that. In fact I'm not really clear on what he wants to do as a solution to the perceived "problem" of these allegedly toxic chemicals in the food.
I've cooked with MSG, and in certain dishes I really do th
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:1)
If consumers wanted healthy food, they'd be buying it. They want cheap, tasty food. The easiest way to make food tasty is to pack it with salt and/or sugar. This is not a trend which will be reversed any time soon. Your best bet is to get a catalog from an organic food retailer, buy a bunch of bulk s
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
When I came to live in this country, I found most foods tasted way too sugary.
Add sugar to my fresh brewed tea or coffee, and I'll throw it out.
I never add salt to my food either. And many (most?) shrink-wrapped foods are packed with sugar and salt.
To us foreigners who weren't accustomed to all that crap, it's disgusting.
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
So American food tastes disgusting to you. Congratulations. I'm sure a very large percentage of Americans would find the food from wherever you're from to be exactly as repulsive. It's called personal preferences.
And just as I wouldn't have any sympathy for the American who moved to Tibet and bitched about how foul yak's milk was and how hard it was to get a Hardee's Charbroiled Angus Beef burger, you'll excuse me if I have equally little sympathy for you. In fact less, since I'm quite
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
Diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, artherosclerosis etc, etc.
And actually, it's hard, and you pay a premium, to get food without certain chemicals added.
Your basically being poisoned, and when I point it out, I'm the bad guy?
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
Wow...you got trolled by the Ugly American, sorry about that.
Sera
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:1)
artificial sweeteners (I am one of the "urban myth" people who gets excruciating migraines if I ingest nutrasweet.)
Nope, I get bad bad headaches from aspartame. Sucralose doesn't do it, and neither does regular or brown sugar.
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:2)
I remember my first try when I was a kid. Happens every time, and always has.
I avoid artificial sweetners like the plague.
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:1)
you're talking about an entirely different--and already addressed--issue completely. food producers are already required to list the ingredients contained in their products, however, because of poor quality control sometimes unwanted--and unlisted--"ingredients" get into the food product. this allows people to trace it back to the responsible party when there is a production chain.
secondly, if there are companies that you don't trust or that you dislike due to their business practices then you can avoid bu
Re:this isn't the only problem with the food chain (Score:1)
Ah, but the federal experts insist that they have fully tested all the products, and deem them safe.
So what - federal experts have allowed all sorts of products on the market that
But won't RFID tags (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But won't RFID tags (Score:2, Funny)
But it is a bitter pill to swallow.
-Peter
Re:But won't RFID tags (Score:2)
But for another thing, I've said this before and I've said it again;
Edible RFID tags that lodge in your gut.
That way, when you waddle into your favorite fast food franchise, the door-mounted RFID tag readers will determine your usual meals and, before you've even staggered as far as the counter, your favorite happy meal is ready for you.
Re:But won't RFID tags (Score:2)
They're basically barcodes that can be read from across a room, nothing more complex or powerful than that. They're potentially very useful for tagging expensive containers to be able to track where the box came from: or to track shipping of food where adulteration is a big deal, such as
Genetic Engineering... (Score:3, Insightful)
1 Apple= 75% Apple, 10% Orange, 5% Pear, 10% Random Genetic Code
Re:Genetic Engineering... (Score:1)
Re:Genetic Engineering... (Score:2, Funny)
Finally! (Score:1)
It was about time!
I just hope that the next time I drag a cow out of a shop the alarm doesn't go off.
Re:Makes sense. (Score:1)
Re:track my food... (Score:1)
People want to know exactly what is in their food (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:2)
The EU has required that GM food be labelled as such since April 2004. [food.gov.uk]
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:2, Insightful)
Genetically modified foods: traditional cross-breeding/cross-pollinization theory applied with more advanced tools on a wider scope.
Bullshit. No
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:2)
Scares? (Score:1)
Uhh... for one, the avian flu spreading in Europe (Score:1)
Please note: (Score:4, Insightful)
It is not a ploy to get you to swallow tags so your toilet can analyse your leavings, like in the recent hit movie "The Island".
Canadian ranchers are also working on getting every cow RFID tagged, and testing each one for BSE before it goes to market.
Cow tags? Aren't ear tags sufficient? (Score:1)
The only reason to go from ear-tag to RFID is that it MIGHT be more cost-effective: RFID may save more money than it costs when it comes to things like moving large numbers of cattle quickly while keeping an "eye" on each and every one of them.
Re:Cow tags? Aren't ear tags sufficient? (Score:2)
The proposal here is to maintain the tagging all the way through the food production chain, so the cows are tagged, the sides of beef that come out of the slaughterhouse are tagged, the ground meat from the packing plant is tagged, the hamburger patties are tagged.
Re:Cow tags? Aren't ear tags sufficient? (Score:1)
The problem is that this tag information is usually only kept by the individual producers. Sometimes by state vets. The trick now is to pull all this information together at the state and national level. The
You get sick after drinking bad milk... (Score:1, Funny)
New waiter jokes (Score:4, Funny)
"Certainly, Madame. Please allow me to light your candle as an alternate light source."
"Waiter, why did my hamburger pass through Mecca?"
"To go on Hajj. It was a very devout cow."
"Waiter, why was my pork chop processed in L.A.?"
"Suffice it to say, monsieur, that many applicants for the part of 'Babe the Pig' did not get cast."
"Manager, why does the General Tso's chicken say that it passed through Daytona Beach?"
"Well, it wanted to get some Spring Break...er...nevermind."
food is temporary (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm as concerned... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'm as concerned... (Score:2)
People want to know exactly what is in their food (Score:3, Insightful)
If people really wanted to know what's in their food, chains like McDonalds wouldn't be in business.
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:3, Insightful)
-GameMaster
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:2)
Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure that RFID suppliers can get some fearmongering from politicians, maybe get 20/20 or Ralf Nadar or some other corporate whore to do an "expose" on why we need the equipment, and g
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:1)
But there are people that do care and want to know where their food has been. While I wouldn't necessarily go that far, I'd definitely like to know more about the chemicals involved and any other artificial additives. There
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:2, Informative)
Yo!
If people really wanted to know what's in their food, chains like McDonalds wouldn't be in business.
Yeah, those would be the people who blamed me for thinking that potatoes weren't a beef product. Silly me. I would have liked to have been informed otherwise.
Aside from vegetarians there are people with all sorts of food intolerances and allergies. I have a need to know exactly what is in every mouthful of food I eat, or I could end up in deep, deep shit. I am not alone.
How on
Re:People want to know exactly what is in their fo (Score:2)
RFID is NOT required for tracking (Score:2, Insightful)
All that is required is a way to track each box or crate from creation to store, and serial number for each package or item.
You put the RFID tags on the pallets or crates (they can be scanned from a distance), and print the lot# and serial# on the box and item. Make the lot# part of the serial# and you have built-in recordkeeping.
For non
Mmm... (Score:1)
Great (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great (Score:2)
Not here (Score:2)
This past session, there was a bill in both sides of Congress that would have required all meat products to be labled as to their country of origin, etc. The industry lobby made sure the bill died. Apparently us 'mericans are too damned stupid to be trusted with such information. They don't want us to know where the meat in our burgers come from.
Re:Not here (Score:2)
it is already here. (Score:2, Informative)
Just don't swallow one: (Score:1)
Already widespread in Japan (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Already widespread in Japan (Score:2)
Re:Already widespread in Japan (Score:2)
Re:Already widespread in Japan (Score:2)
I think that is a great idea for what happens in Japan. Maybe this is a better reason to implement this system in the US/Canada,etc. as well. To implement the system because we can not trust large corporations seems to be spend
Re:Already widespread in Japan (Score:1)
The American Farmer Will Suffer (Score:1)
More of a privacy threat than people realize. (Score:2, Interesting)
But, in a statistical sense, their being activists at all makes them more likely to commit crimes that fall under that "terrorism" term. If food purchasing patterns were to be fed into a program like CAPPS II, they would be more likely to be singled out for harassment at checkpoints such
Oh great. (Score:2)
Belgium ~8 years ago (Score:4, Interesting)
It made everyone so worried for the next few months, that some school kid fainted when smelling a bad odour in a coca cola. It caused half the school to feel sick. They had to be hospitalised. So there went all the coke out of the stores. New caps on the bottle to denote newly bottled ones, everyone (~10 million people) a free bottle) and a coca cola CEO appearing on national television making an apology, but who had to resign a few weeks later anyway. (Hey, per capita we are one hell of a coke lovers)
Now the funny thing is, that they tested that coke bottle the kid drank. Nothing wrong it. Conclusion: mass hysteria
But then again, a few months earlier we did eat all that motor oil.
Crunchy... (Score:2)
The EU is ahaead of the pack here... (Score:1)
The General Food Law [eu.int] mandates tracking and tracing of all food produced in the EU.
And as far as I know the Dutch [dymos.nl] are leading within Europe.
Everyone Knows Where Meat Comes From... (Score:2)
The agriculture dealers already run complete Supply Chain Management. They don't need RFID to track these food packets. This is just an RFID publicity stunt, exploiting people's fear of recent food product unsafety problems. Rather than fix the cannibalistic cycle of feeding animal byproducts back to the same species, which amplifies diseases - even tiny disease signals like previously innocuous prions - they're throwing RFID at it. Which makes it even more manageable to entrench
they want to know (Score:2)
Holy Cow (Score:1)
Re:Holy Cow (Score:1)
This article gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "fish and chips," doesn't it?
Not to mention "chipped beef."
Tracking completed (Score:1)
Why did I ... (Score:1)
Organic Valley (Score:1)
http://organicvalley.coop
RDIF is too expensive (Score:2)
would more than likely get passed off to the consumer.
OUCH!
Re:Good Idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good Idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, the funny thing is that you do not need R
Re:Good Idea (Score:1)
Re:Good Idea (Score:1)
Here is the link to USDA's National Animal Id System information site.
You are right in one way though. The US gov't won't be doing this. They are mandating that it be done but leaving the implementation to industry. Now I know what your thinking. What incentive will the industry have to do a better job. In this case, a lot. Sick customers don't come back and they take a lot of other customers with them.
Apples #2012 (Score:1)