SUMMARYThis study focused on the ability of radio frequency identifi cation (RFID) tags applied on reusable plastic containers (RPCs) to withstand repeated abuse due to physical distribution and storage environment related hazards. It also studied the effect of the chemical cleaning environments that RPCs are commonly exposed to in the pooling/rental systems commonly used to distribute fresh produce. RPCs are being successfully deployed in the US, Europe and Asia to ship fresh produce from growers to retailers. The increasing demand for traceability and tracking of fresh produce from 'farm to fork' requires these containers to be monitored and identifi ed in the food supply chain, and RFID technology provides one of the solutions. This study compared eight commercially available RFID tags mounted on RPCs for use in fresh produce distribution and subjected them to repeated physical and climatic cycles representing the distribution and cleaning environments, and their effective 'read' capabilities were tested.