A study on RFID/USN based e-pedigree system for cold chain management

Purchase and consumption patterns in the food and pharmaceutical industries have changed because of the increase in fresh, convenient, high-quality foods that are available due to improvements in economic level and changes in lifestyle that are part of modern society. Efficient cold chain management has been receiving increased attention in the logistics industry due to the rapid increase in customer demand for refrigerated and frozen food, and pharmaceutical products. Electronic pedigree (e-Pedigree) has been suggested as a mean of providing transparent and secure product trading histories of pharmaceutical products across the entire US supply chain. It can help preserve people´s health and protect the pharmaceutical industries by preventing distribution of contaminated or counterfeit products. The proposed RFID/USN (radio frequency identification/ubiquitous sensor network) based e-pedigree system is based on the EPCglobal Pedigree Ratified Standard version 1.0 (ePedigree). Unfortunately, this system does not include environmental status information, which is necessary for ensuring the proper conditions during storage, transportation, and distribution of food and pharmaceutical products. The main purpose of this study is to describe an RFID/USN based e-pedigree system for temperature-sensitive foods and pharmaceutical products to guarantee the quality of these products and ensure they do not become contaminated anywhere throughout the supply chain.