Since these pallets were relatively low (1.4 m) compared to the ceiling of the container (2.5 m), it was expected that the tags placed high on the side of each pallet would read much better than the ones placed low.
This can be explained by the gap between the ceiling of the container and the top of the load, which gives free space for the RF waves to travel.
The reason for the lack of reads for tags placed at the bottom of the pallets is explained by the water content of fresh meat.
This can be taken further by saying that the dielectric constant of lean beef is a little above 50
The dielectric properties of food products are primarily determined by their chemical composition and, to a much lesser extent, by their physical structure.