GB2213263A - Method and apparatus for determining body composition of animals using ultrasound - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for determining body composition of animals using ultrasound Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2213263A GB2213263A GB8824279A GB8824279A GB2213263A GB 2213263 A GB2213263 A GB 2213263A GB 8824279 A GB8824279 A GB 8824279A GB 8824279 A GB8824279 A GB 8824279A GB 2213263 A GB2213263 A GB 2213263A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- animal
- body composition
- signal
- pulse
- acceptable
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
- G01N29/04—Analysing solids
- G01N29/07—Analysing solids by measuring propagation velocity or propagation time of acoustic waves
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N33/00—Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
- G01N33/02—Food
- G01N33/12—Meat; fish
Abstract
For use in a method for determining the body composition of an animal, apparatus comprises a pair of spaced-apart in-line transducer means (1,2), means (13) for generating ultrasonic pulses for transmission from one transducer means (1) and reception by the other transducer means (2), means (5) for deriving from the time of flight of a pulse between the transducer means (1,2) and the distance between the latter the speed of transmission, means (5) for monitoring the attenuation of a received signal, means (14) for determining whether the attenuation of a received signal is such as to make it acceptable or unacceptable for representing the body composition of the animal, and means (17) for correlating an acceptable signal with predetermined data for deriving a signal representative of body composition. The signal is determined as unacceptable if it has passed through bone in the body. <IMAGE>
Description
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING
BODY COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining body composition of animals and will be discussed primarily in relation to cattle but it should be noted that the invention is equally applicable to a wide range of animals which includes sheep, pigs, chickens and rabbits, for example.
It has been estimated that the over production of fat by the U.K. meat industry is in excess of one hundred thousand tonnes per annum. Only a relatively small amount of fat is necessary to contribute to the eating quality of meat and the majority is wasted, trimmed off by the butcher, left on the plate or exuded during cooking. Perhaps more importantly, the consumer is becoming increasingly aware of the inherent dangers of eating excessive animal fat to the extent that meat is picked over at the point of sale and that which is considered "fatty" by the consumer is left unpurchased.
Accordingly, there is an important need to breed animals with a reduced fat content and to this end, there is a requirement for a means of measuring the body composition of live animals so that body composition can be checked at various stages of production.
Once an animal has been bred to the point of slaughter there is also a need to assess body composition in order to grade the animal for sale purposes. To-date, the grading system employed is largely subjective and this is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of accuracy.
However, there have been attempts to effect objective analysis of body composition using an ultrasonic technique and one such method has been developed by the present applicants which gives an accuracy of the order of 2% of the lean content of an animal. This method is described in a Paper entitled 'New Equipment for Measuring the Speed of Ultrasound and its Applications in the Estimation of Body Composition of
Farm Livestock" by C.A. Miles, G.A.J. Fursey and R.W.R.York, incorporated into a book entitled "In Vivo
Measurements of Body Composition in Meat Animals" (Lister, D), pages 89-101, published by Elsevier Applied
Science, London 1984.This method involves measuring the time of flight of an ultrasonic pulse from one side of an animal to the other, the distance between two in-line transducers which transmit and receive, respectively, the ultrasonic pulse being known and hence the speed of transmission of the pulse through the body of the animal can be derived. A given speed measurement is correlated with speeds relating to known body compositions derived by dissection to produce a direct reading of the body content of the animal, this normally being expressed as the lean content in terms of percentage weight relative to the weight of the whole animal, that is the combined weight of lean, fat and bones.
As discussed in the aforementioned Paper, there are a number of limitations of this known ultrasonic method of measuring body composition, the most serious of which is that it depends on the accuracy of the relationship between the composition of a small section of the body and the overall body composition. Coupled with this is the fact that the method relies on passing the ultrasonic pulse through muscle and fatty tissue only (i.e. there must be no bone in the path of the ultrasonic pulse) which to date has meant that this severely restricts the areas of the body available for measurement. In this respect, only two areas have been considered appropriate, one of which is across the hind limbs of an animal to the rear of the femur and below the ischiatic tuber, and the other of which is the dorsal surface of the neck.
However, the hind limb site has been concentrated on as providing a more accurate evaluation of body composition but there are a number of disadvantages arising from this choice as follows:
1. Loss of accuracy as regards at least cattle and
sheep because large fat depots are not allowed
for.
2. Accessibility to the rear of an animal is not
always readily available because the animal is
usually restrained in a race or crush which
means that bars are in the vicinity of the hind
limbs which hinder the disposition of the
transducers in contact with the hind limb which
is essential in order to obtain readings.
3. Some danger to the operator by virtue of
standing to the rear of an animal.
The object of the present invention is to improve upon the accuracy of the known method developed by the present applicants and to overcome the present problem of accessibility and possible danger to the operator.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining the bod composition of an animal comprising the steps of:
1. placing a pair of spaced apart, in-line
ultrasonic transducer means across the back of
an animal at a first selected site on the back,
2. transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from one
transducer means for reception by the other
transducer means following transmission of that
pulse through the body of the animal,
3. determining the time of flight of the pulse
through the body of the animal, and the
distance between the transducer means and
deriving therefrom an output signal
representative of the speed of transmission
through the animal,
4. monitoring the attenuation of the output signal
to determine whether a given output signal is
acceptable as being representative of the body
content of the animal, correlating an acceptable output signal with
predetermined data to provide a final output
signal representative of the body content of
the animal.
The method may comprise the further steps of repeating steps 1 - 5 for at least a second selected site spaced from the first selected site along the back of the animal, and providing an average of the plurality of final output signals to provide a mean measurement of the bods composition of the animal. With these additional steps the present invention affords a method of measuring the body composition of an animal (live) or carcass (dead) at a plurality of sites which hence provides a more accurate measurement and yet is not hindered b the presence of bone in the path of a transmitted pulse in as much a transmitted pulse which is attenuated by the presence of bone in its transmission path is rejected.
Accordingly, the operator is able to move the transducer means along the back of an animal in order to obtain the required number of acceptable measurements. In other words, the monitoring of the attenuation of a received signal enables an indication to be given to the operator that a given selected site is either acceptable or unacceptable from the standpoint of bone appearing in the pulse transmission path and if unacceptable, an adjustment of the selected site can be made in order to produce an acceptable measurement. It will be appreciated that an acceptable transmission path is one which extends through the gaps in the bones which extend from the spine of an animal.
As an alternative to the steps of effecting physical movement of the transducers along the back of the animal in order to cover a plurality of sites, opposed arrays of transducers may be employed, with the transducers of the arrays extending along the back of the animal, the method comprising the further steps of transmitting ultrasonic pulses from one transducer array and monitoring the receipt of pulses at the other array.
The use of the method according to the present invention has produced an accuracy of 1.36% in measuring the lean content of an animal, this figure being the average of resulting from the measurements taken on 49 bulls. Thus, the invention gives rise to a significant advance in the art in improving the accuracy of lean content measurement to 1.36% or better.
The correlation step may be effected instantaneously on receipt of an acceptable output signal or may be effected subsequently and in this event, the acceptable output signals are stored. The method of the present invention may include the step of displaying one or more of the parameters which are measured in deriving the final measurement of body composition.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for determining the body composition of an animal, the apparatus comprising a pair of spaced-apart, in-line ultrasonic transducer means, means for generating ultrasonic pulses for transmission from one transducer means and reception by the other transducer means, means for deriving from the time of flight of a pulse between the transducer means and the distance between the transducer means the speed of transmission, means for monitoring the attenuation of a received signal, means for determining whether the attenuation of a received signal is such as to make it acceptable or unacceptable for representing the body composition of the animal, and means for correlating an acceptable signal with predetermined data for deriving a signal representative of body composition.
Each transducer means may be in the form of an array of transducers and means may be provided for switching sequentially the transmission of ultrasonic pulses from the transducers of one'array, with the monitoring means monitoring the receipt of pulses at the corresponding transducers in the receiver array. With this arrangement there is no need physically to move the transducer means along the back of an animal.
The apparatus may further comprise display means for displaying one or more of the measurements made in deriving the signal representative of body composition.
In addition, or instead of, the display means may display the measurement of body composition. The display means may also display when a received signal is unacceptable so as to indicate that the transducers should be adjusted.
A method and apparatus for determining the body composition of an animal in accordance with the present invention will now be described in greater detail, by ways of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of one form of apparatus for carrying out the present invention, and
Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating in greater detail of one of the components of Figure 1.
The method and apparatus of the illustrated embodiment is basically that disclosed in the aforementioned Paper by Miles, Fursey and York and the disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference.
The method of the present invention relies on the fact that, in general, the speeds (V) of ultrasound in muscle and fatty tissue at body temperature are correlated with the volume fraction of fat (Y) which the tissues contain, via the equation: Y = (b/V) + a (1)
where a and b are constants
Consequently if the muscles and fatty tissues are arranged in an arbitrary number of parallel layers, the mean volume fraction of fat in the mixture is given by:
Y = b (1/V) + a (2)
where (i/V) is the transmission time that a pulse of ultrasound takes to travel through the tissues, divided by the tissue thickness, characteristics that can be measured directly.
If, in a live animal, (1/V) is determined through a region comprising adipose tissue and muscle only (such as the soft tissues of the limbs), the mean volume fraction of fat in the tissues through which the beam passes may be estimated via equation (2). However it is important that the measurement of (i/V) be made precisely since at body temperature (l/v) for lipids is only about 14% higher than that for fat-free tissues. By defining measurement sites on the animal so that different animals may be measured at one or more corresponding sites, it is possible to rank animals in order of predicted fatness at these sites and to correlate the data with tissue proportions in the animal or carcass.
The apparatus comprises a pair of ultrasonic transducers 1,2 mounted on a common axis by a yoke 3, the transducer 1 being arranged as a transmitter and the transducer 2 as a receiver. The receiver transducer 2 is ad.iustably mounted in the yoke 3 in order that the distance between the to transducers 1 and 2 can be varied. The transducers 1 and 2 are connected to a control box 4, some of the detailed circuitry of which is indicated in block diagram form in Figure 2 of the drawings. The control box 4 is connected to a microcomputer 5 which in turn is connected to a display unit 6.
The display device 6 is divided into two with an upper sector having six display areas for indicating, respectively, an error, time of flight, distance, speed, signal level and body composition. A lower sector of the display device 6 is used to indicate when the operator of the equipment can move to the next site on the animal or to a different animal.
In use of the apparatus, the transducers 1 and 2 are adjusted to the required distance apart a distance of 10 centimetres being found adequate for sheep and of the order of 24 centimetres for cattle. The distance (d) can be recorded in the control box 4 either manually or automatically from an arrangement associated with the adjustable transducer 2. The objective of the operator is to take a series of readings along the back of animal 7 (Figure 1) but in view of the fact that the transducers 1 and 2 are likely to have disposed in the ultrasonic transmission path therebetween the presence of bone associated with the spine of the animal, it is necessary to monitor this situation so that the operator can adjust the position of the transducers in order to obtain a number of acceptable readings to give a mean reading of the body composition of the animal. In as much as the operator only has to move the transducers l and 2 along the back of the animal this can be achieved by standing to the side of the animal as opposed to the rear as was necessary with the previous arrangement with the attendant problems of accessibility and potential injury from kicking. Access to the back of the animal is always readily obtained even though the animal will normally be restrained in a race or crush.
Having made sure that the distance between the transducers is inputted to the control box 4, the operator then places the transducers 1,2 at a selected site on the back of the animal, ensuring that the transducers are in good contact with the skin of the animal so that there is no signal loss due to a poor interface between the transducers and the animal. This is readily achieved by pressing the transducers onto the back of the animal which causes the latter no distress.
An ultrasonic pulse is then generated by the control box 4 and transmitted from the transmitting transducer 1, through the back of the animal for reception at the receiving transducer 2. The received signal is applied to the control box 4. More specifically, and referring to Figure 2 of the drawings, the received pulse passes through a preamplifier 8 and is rectified, shaped and the amplitude thereof adjusted by an amplifier 9 with automatic gain control so that the amplitude is of a given level. This amplified signal is fed to a threshold detector 11 which, at a predetermined level on the rising edge of the pulse, generates a new sharp pulse to stop a timer 12 which was started when the transmitted pulse was generated by a pulse generator 13.This sequence of operation on the received pulse has been developed in order to ensure that a clean and consistent cut off for the timer 12 is generated and so that the timer cannot be stopped by the presence of noise on the received signal.
The time recorded by the timer 12 between the instant of transmission of a pulse and the reception of that pulse at the transducer 2 does not equal the required time flight of that pulse through the body of the animal because it includes a system delay but this is predetermined and is automatically subtracted in order to give the precise time of flight which is fed as a digital signal to the microprocessor 5 from the control box 4.
In addition, digital signals are fed from the control box 4 representing the distance (d) between the transducers 1 and 2, the reciprocal of the speed of transmission through the body of the animal (i/V), and the attenuation which has occurred between the transmitted pulse and the received pulse.These digital signals are passed from the electronic box 4 to the microprocessor 5 on a standard RS232 line and are first received by logic circuitry 14 embodied in the microprocessor 5 which checks whether the signal level is acceptable, that is whether the attenuation of the transmitted signal is such that the received signal can be accepted on the basis that there is no bone either directly or indirectly in the transmission path of the pulse or whether it is unacceptable because the attenuation is such that bone must be in the transmission path.If the attenuation of the received signal is unacceptable in this respect, then an output is generated to a further circuit 1 D within the microprocessor 5 which reports the existence of a low signal to the control box 4 and also displays an ERROR message in the upper sector of the display device 6. The operator is thus advised by the display 6 to adjust the position of the yoke 3 in order to find a transmission path which is not obstructed by bone associated with the spine of the animal under test. If a received signal is acceptable, then the circuit 14 generates an output to a further circuit 16 of the microprocessor 5 which computes the mean speed of the signal through the animal and stores that computation.An acceptable signal is also applied to the control box 4 which thus receives both acceptable and unacceptable signals which are used to trigger the transmission of further pulses from the pulse generator 13.
Figure 1 of the drawings also shows the microprocessor 5 as comprising a further circuit 17 which is used to correlate the mean speed signals computed by the circuit 16 with predetermined data relating to the species of the animal under test and obtained from careful dissection in order to derive a signal representative of the body composition of the animal under test. This signal is applied to the display device 6 so as to display the body composition measurement. It should be noted that the circuit 17 may be embodied in the microprocessor 5 as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings or may be external thereto.When an acceptable received signal is present, this is applied to the upper sector of the display device 6 so as to indicate the TIME,
DISTANCE, SPEED and SIGNAL LEVEL and also illuminate the lower sector to move to the next site on the animal or to a new animal if the requisite number of readings for the present animal has been achieved.
The individual transducers 1 and 2 may each be replaced by an array of transducers arranged to extend along the back of the animal and hence obviate the need physically to move the transducers along the back of the animal in order to obtain measurements at a plurality of sites. Switching means are then provided so as to transmit pulses sequentially along the transducers of one array, with the receipt of the pulses at the corresponding transducers of the other array being monitored.
Alternatively, all the transducers of one array can be fired simultaneously and the resulting pulses received in parallel or separately by the other receiver. A further alternative is to fire the transducers of one array in groups with the other array receiving pulses in groups. A still further alternative is to use an appropriate transducer firing sequence to focus the beam and incline the beam with respect to the normal.
It will be appreciated that the measurement of a given animal can be completed in a relatively short time and to-date, it has been found possible to measure the body composition of twenty head of cattle per hour. The fact that a plurality of measurements are taken along the back of the animal means that a very good mean measurement of body composition is obtained and, as already referred to herein before, an accuracy of 1. 36to of the percentage lean content of an animal has been achieved using the method and apparatus of the present invention.Again, as already mentioned, this represents a significant advance in the art and gives rise to apparatus for providing an objective analysis of the lean content of an animal or carcass so as to provide a tool for monitoring the breeding of animals with a view to increasing the lean content thereof, and to provide a reliable system of carcass grading. The method and apparatus of the present invention hinges on the ability to cope with the presence of bone in the transmission path of the ultrasonic pulses (previously considered impossible) in the sense that received signals are monitored on the basis of attenuation (compared with the transmitted signal) in order to detect when bone is present in the transmission path so that the operator can adjust the position of the transducers so as to obtain an acceptable signal.
It will be appreciated that a measurement may be taken at a single site whilst still deriving the advantages of the present invention although improved accuracy is obtained from a plurality of sites.
Claims (16)
1. placing a pair of spaced apart, in-line
ultrasonic transducer means across the back of
an animal at a first selected site on the back,
2. transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from one
transducer means for reception by the other
transducer means following transmission of that
pulse through the body of the animal,
3. determining the time of flight of the pulse
through the body of the animal, and the
distance between the transducer means and
deriving therefrom an output signal
representative of the speed of transmission
through the animal,
4. monitoring the attenuation of the output signal
to determine whether a given output signal is
acceptable as being representative of the body
content of the animal,
5. correlating an acceptable output signal with
predetermined data to provide a final output
signal representative of the body content of
the animal.
2. A method according to claim 1 and comprising the further steps of repeating steps 1 - 5 for at least a second selected site spaced from the first selected site along the back of the animal, and providing an average of the plurality of final output signals to provide a mean measurement of the body composition of the animal.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the transducer means each comprise an array of transducers extending along the back of the animal, the method comprising the further steps of transmitting ultrasonic pulses from one transducer array and monitoring the receipt of pulses at the other array.
4. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the correlation step is effected instantaneously on receipt of an acceptable output signal.
5. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, and comprising the further step of storing the acceptable output signals and subsequently effecting the correlation step on the stored signals.
6. A method according to any of the preceding claims and comprising the further step of displaying one or more of the parameters which are measured in deriving the final measurement of body composition.
7. Apparatus for determining the body composition of an animal, the apparatus comprising a pair of spaced-apart, in-line ultrasonic transducer means, means for generating ultrasonic pulses for transmission from one transducer means and reception by the other transducer means, means for deriving from the time of flight of a pulse between the transducer means and the distance between the transducer means the speed of transmission, means for monitoring the attenuation of a received signal, means for determining whether the attenuation of a received signal is such as to make it acceptable or unacceptable for representing the body composition of the animal, and means for correlating an acceptable signal with predetermined data for deriving a signal representative of body composition.
8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each transducer means is in the form of an array of transducers and wherein means are provided for transmitting ultrasonic pulses from the transducers of one array, with the monitoring means monitoring the receipt of pulses at the other array.
9. Apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, and further comprising display means for displaying one or more of the parameters measured in deriving the signal representative of body composition.
10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the parameters displayed are selected from TIME, DISTANCE,
SPEED and SIGNAL LEVEL.
11. Apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the display means also displays a signal indicating to the operator of the apparatus that he should move to a next site on an animal or a new animal, as appropriate.
12. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the display means also displays an ERROR signal when a received signal is unacceptable.
13. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims and further comprising control means operable to receive acceptable signals and to initiate the transmission of further ultrasonic pulses thereupon.
14. Apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 13 and further comprising means to which received signals are applied and which are operable to preamplify, rectify and shape the received signals, the output of said means being applied to an amplifier with automatic gain control, the output of the amplifier being applied to a threshold detector which is operable, at a predetermined level on the rising edge of a pulse applied thereto, to generate a new and sharp pulse to stop timer means which was started when the corresponding initial ultrasonic pulse was transmitted.
15. Apparatus for measuring the body composition of an animal substantially as herein particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
16. A method of measuring the body composition of an animal substantially as herein particularly described.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB878728368A GB8728368D0 (en) | 1987-12-04 | 1987-12-04 | Method & apparatus for determining body composition of animals |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB8824279D0 GB8824279D0 (en) | 1988-11-23 |
| GB2213263A true GB2213263A (en) | 1989-08-09 |
Family
ID=10627982
Family Applications (2)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB878728368A Pending GB8728368D0 (en) | 1987-12-04 | 1987-12-04 | Method & apparatus for determining body composition of animals |
| GB8824279A Withdrawn GB2213263A (en) | 1987-12-04 | 1988-10-17 | Method and apparatus for determining body composition of animals using ultrasound |
Family Applications Before (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB878728368A Pending GB8728368D0 (en) | 1987-12-04 | 1987-12-04 | Method & apparatus for determining body composition of animals |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (2) | GB8728368D0 (en) |
Cited By (10)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5079951A (en) * | 1990-08-16 | 1992-01-14 | Her Majesty The Queen In Right Of Canada, As Represented By The Minister Of Agriculture | Ultrasonic carcass inspection |
| EP0499765A1 (en) * | 1991-02-19 | 1992-08-26 | Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut | A method and apparatus for determining and/or evaluating quality characteristics of a body of meat material |
| WO1994018554A1 (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1994-08-18 | Meat & Livestock Commission | Monitoring eating quality of meat |
| US5353796A (en) * | 1991-06-28 | 1994-10-11 | Eli Lilly And Company | Non-invasive device and method for grading meat |
| GB2289763A (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1995-11-29 | Commission Meat & Livestock | Monitoring eating quality of meat |
| EP1063522A3 (en) * | 1999-06-22 | 2002-04-17 | Guigné International Ltd | Ultrasonic seafood probe |
| ES2169625A1 (en) * | 1999-03-09 | 2002-07-01 | Univ Valencia Politecnica | Ultrasonic classification of raw and cured meat products comprises determination of moisture, texture and fat content of irradiated meat samples |
| US8150633B2 (en) | 2007-11-19 | 2012-04-03 | Burke Timothy A | Seafood physical characteristic estimation system and method |
| US8538126B2 (en) | 2007-08-22 | 2013-09-17 | Icerobotics, Ltd. | Method and apparatus for the automatic grading of condition of livestock |
| WO2015081354A1 (en) | 2013-12-04 | 2015-06-11 | Mkw Electronics Gmbh | Method and device for the examination of animal hoofs or animal claws |
-
1987
- 1987-12-04 GB GB878728368A patent/GB8728368D0/en active Pending
-
1988
- 1988-10-17 GB GB8824279A patent/GB2213263A/en not_active Withdrawn
Non-Patent Citations (2)
| Title |
|---|
| "In Vivo mea * |
| 89-101 by C. * |
Cited By (15)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5079951A (en) * | 1990-08-16 | 1992-01-14 | Her Majesty The Queen In Right Of Canada, As Represented By The Minister Of Agriculture | Ultrasonic carcass inspection |
| EP0499765A1 (en) * | 1991-02-19 | 1992-08-26 | Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut | A method and apparatus for determining and/or evaluating quality characteristics of a body of meat material |
| US5353796A (en) * | 1991-06-28 | 1994-10-11 | Eli Lilly And Company | Non-invasive device and method for grading meat |
| US5625147A (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1997-04-29 | Meat And Livestock Commission | Apparatus and method for monitoring the eating quality of meat |
| GB2289763A (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1995-11-29 | Commission Meat & Livestock | Monitoring eating quality of meat |
| GB2289763B (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1996-11-13 | Commission Meat & Livestock | Monitoring eating quality of meat |
| WO1994018554A1 (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1994-08-18 | Meat & Livestock Commission | Monitoring eating quality of meat |
| AU683640B2 (en) * | 1993-02-10 | 1997-11-20 | Meat & Livestock Commission | Monitoring eating quality of meat |
| ES2169625A1 (en) * | 1999-03-09 | 2002-07-01 | Univ Valencia Politecnica | Ultrasonic classification of raw and cured meat products comprises determination of moisture, texture and fat content of irradiated meat samples |
| EP1063522A3 (en) * | 1999-06-22 | 2002-04-17 | Guigné International Ltd | Ultrasonic seafood probe |
| US8538126B2 (en) | 2007-08-22 | 2013-09-17 | Icerobotics, Ltd. | Method and apparatus for the automatic grading of condition of livestock |
| US8150633B2 (en) | 2007-11-19 | 2012-04-03 | Burke Timothy A | Seafood physical characteristic estimation system and method |
| US8457904B2 (en) | 2007-11-19 | 2013-06-04 | Timothy A. Burke | Seafood physical characteristic estimation system and method |
| US8725424B2 (en) | 2007-11-19 | 2014-05-13 | Clearwater Seafoods Limited Partnership | Seafood physical characteristic estimation system and method |
| WO2015081354A1 (en) | 2013-12-04 | 2015-06-11 | Mkw Electronics Gmbh | Method and device for the examination of animal hoofs or animal claws |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB8824279D0 (en) | 1988-11-23 |
| GB8728368D0 (en) | 1988-01-13 |
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