OTTAWA — Electronic technology could revolutionize the cattle industry.
Smartphones capable of reading individual cattle identification tags and scanners to detect E. coli 0157:H7 or find internal bruises are at the prototype stage, said Mark Klassen of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
The mobile tag reader is at the second prototype stage, he told the CCA annual meeting earlier this year.
“We want to make it so if you know how to use your phone, you would know how to use this,” he said.
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The CCA worked with the radio frequency research laboratory at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary to develop an attachment that allows smartphones and tablets to read electronic ear tags. The information is sent via an application downloaded on iPhone or Android devices.
“It communicates to the phone via Bluetooth like a wireless headset,” said Glen Kathler of SAIT.
The school is also working on a high frequency tag that will be tested in cattle herds this spring. Readability and retention will be part of the trial, he said.
A new technology for packing plants could automatically swab pieces of trimmed meat while they are still on the conveyor belt. The equipment could check for E. coli 0157:H7 on trim before it ends up mixed in a large bin.
Food safety regulations in Canada and the United States say that these large bins, which can hold up to 2,000 pounds of meat, must be probed to collect 60 thin samples from throughout the container. Each sample is examined for bacterial contamination. The process costs $1 million a year, and it is difficult to obtain representative samples.
A research project is investigating whether swabbing pieces with a rotating wheel at the end of the trim line would provide better and faster results.
“Under the correct circumstances, we can make swabbing work as well or better as cutting off beef,” he said.
“Instead of trying to figure out how to get to the bottom or the middle of the meat, we are trying to sample all the trim literally before it goes into the bin.”
Klassen said the CCA filed a petition to the federal government last year that asked it to approve irradiation, which is capable of killing dangerous pathogens. Nothing has happened.
Canada has spent 17 years considering whether the process should be allowed for food safety purposes. It is approved in the United States, and packages are labelled accordingly.
Klassen is also overseeing a national beef quality audit, which looks for flaws such as carcass bruising and liver abscesses.
The injuries are often below the surface, and inspectors do not see them. Those that are found on the carcass surface are cut away.
Advances in computer vision systems could detect problems such as internal bruising.
Prediction algorithms need to be developed so that the system could determine if a bruise is present. Such a project would require 14 technical personnel from Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Lacombe, Alta., and 150 cattle operations.
The audit is also assessing livers for lesions, and education programs are in development to keep those organ meats healthy.
Scanners might work well when these are inspected.
“We did find that although some livers looked clear from the perspective of their external surface, CFIA is still putting them into pet food because they could feel lesions when they palpated them,” Klassen said.
The quality audit is also assessing whether beef is more tender than it was in 2009, when there were still complaints about toughness.
For the first time, the audit will also look at label claims in Canadian retail meat cases. Auditors will document how many labels claim beef is organic, humanely raised or antibiotic free.
