RFID apps go beyond supply chain

Victorian ICT Minister Marsha Thomson has predicted an RFID-enabled world where the chips are embedded in fruit, and are used for "strange bathroom activities."

During a visit to the Japanese world trade fair with 50 Victorian delegates earlier this year, Thomson said she saw many examples of interesting uses for RFID apart from the general supply chain.

Thomson, who was speaking yesterday at the Impetus 2005 conference in Melbourne, accompanied members of the Victorian RFID cluster and intelligent transport system on the tour and said they got a vision of what RFID tagging will be in the future.

"We saw RFID chips the size of glitter that during warfare, when sprinkled on the enemy, mean they could be tracked forever," Thomson said.

"We also saw RFID being used as a chip in fresh fruit, which enables it not only to contain the use-by date but also whether it was organically produced, or if not, what chemicals were used, the country of origin, who the farmer is and which batch the fruit came in.

"Then, if someone has an RFID reader in a refrigerator or bench counter they can easily get the information. This technology is real and available, it is just a case of picking it up." Thomson also said the Japanese obsession with cleanliness, and bathroom activities is producing some strange uses of RFID chips that she would not want to consider, or elaborate on.

Michael Crawford attended the conference as a guest of Impetus 2005

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