Beef traceability by radio frequency identification system in the production process of a slaughterhouse

Resumo

The goal of this work was to analyze the feasibility of continuing the traceability of beef through the use of Radio Frequency Identification technology in the production process of a slaughterhouse. In this process, the relationship between the end product (a piece of meat and the offal) and its source (the animal) is not maintained, even if the animal has been traced until the slaughterhouse. In the present work, critical points in the production process involving loss of traceability were identified and simulations using the middleware fosstrak and an associated simulator to validate a solution to this problem were performed. It was found that traceability is feasible, provided that the antennas and the RFID readers are placed in strategic locations such as the hooks where the carcasses are hanged and on the trays with the cuts of meat.