Marks and Spencer says it now sells fresher food following the introduction of RFID technology in its supply chain in August 2002.

IT director Stuart Senior said it had tagged 2.5 million of the plastic crates it uses to ship fresh and chilled produce around the supply chain.

Head of M&S’s RFID project James Stafford said own label suppliers had been persuaded to adopt RFID and could now process orders faster, packing them later.

For example, 20 barcoded containers take 30 seconds to scan on arrival to a depot. However a pallet of 20 RFID tagged containers can be checked in five seconds.

Each RFID tagged crate has a seven-year life, making the technology cost effective, said Senior, but he added that M&S was years away from tagging individual foods, as RFID tags still costed 30p each.

It has, however, started experimenting with RFID tags on mens’ suits, ties and shirts in its High Wycombe store in a four-week DTI-sponsored trial that started this week.

Senior said the trial would establish how effective RFID was in reducing picking errors and “little inaccuracies” in the supply chain.

RFID tagging could also reduce labour costs on stock control and ensure M&S had the widest selection of sizes in stock, he said.

Stafford said he had been in discussions with civil liberty groups about RFID, and had also started a customer research project.

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