CA2386520A1

CA2386520A1 - Method for marking an animal and products derived therefrom

Info

Publication number: CA2386520A1
Application number: CA002386520A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Eva-Maria Prinzenberg; Wolf Bertling; Jorg Hassmann; Horst Linn
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: responsif GmbH
Priority date: 1999-09-15
Filing date: 2000-08-31
Publication date: 2001-03-22
Also published as: DE19944128A1; WO2001019178A1; EP1211930A1; AU7643600A; CZ2002905A3; PL354312A1; AR025681A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for marking an animal, in addition to products derived therefrom, whereby a transponder (10) is introduced into the body of the animal; an immune-reaction-producing substance (16) is applied to the animal; said immune-reaction-producing substance is not applied to the organism of the animal via injection nor the food chain nor in the natural environment of animal breeding. It is thus possible to obtain simultaneously a biological and physical marking over a given period of time.

Description

Method for marking an animal and products originating therefrom The invention relates to a method for marking an animal and products originating therefrom, to a transponder and a kit.
According to the prior art, livestock, such as cattle and pigs, for recording purposes and for identification of origin, are usually marked, such as using an ear tag, a tattoo or a transponder.
Transponders, as are known, for example, from US 5,697,384, are injected under the skin or into the muscle tissue at various points in the animal's body.
The transponder is identified on the basis of the following principle: a reader unit emits an electromagnetic field into the surroundings via an antenna. If the transponder passes into the region of the field, this field produces a current in the transponder due to inductive coupling. The current is utilized to transmit a signal via an antenna. The signal is detected and decoded by the reader unit.
Operation of such passive transponders does not require any further energy supply, for example in the form of a battery.
A disadvantage found with these conventional transponders is the low integration distance, which is generally 30-50 cm, so that even with a slight shift of the transponder in the animal, errors on reading can occur. In order to counteract shifting, DE 37 45 053 discloses coating the transponder with a roughened plastic layer.
A further disadvantage of the abovementioned markings is that after separating the animal from the marking, for example after slaughtering the animal and cutting

- 2 -the carcass, it is no longer possible to assign individual parts of the animal to the respective slaughter animal.

3 and WO 99/36775 disclose biological marking for slaughter animals. In this method at least one immunogen which is harmless to the animal and the consumers is administered to the animal. Detection of the induced specific antibodies makes possible forgery-proof identification of origin of the living animal and products originating therefrom, such as meat and meat products. The disadvantage of this method is that a sample must be taken to identify the origin of the animal.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, a reliable, rapid and forgery-proof marking of an animal is to be made possible. The marking is to be identifiable as far as possible without a sample needing to be taken from the animal. In addition, a reliable and forgery-proof identification is also to be made possible by which the origin of products originating from the animal can be unambiguously established after slaughter.
This object is achieved by the features of claims 1, 14 and 18. Expedient embodiments of the invention arise from features 2 to 13, 15 to 17 and 19 to 21.
To achieve the object, there are provided a method for marking an animal and products originating therefrom in which a transponder is introduced into the body of the animal and at least one substance triggering an immune reaction is administered to the animal which does not pass into the animal's body as vaccine, or via the food chains, or via the environment during usual animal husbandry, so that, for a predetermined period, - i~10 01/19178 PCT/DE00/02997 biological and physical marking are achieved simultaneously.
The immune reaction initiated by the substance does not usually occur in the animals, because these do not come into contact with these substances triggering the immune reaction. In selection of the substance, care must be taken to ensure that it does not pass into the body of the animal either as vaccine, or via the food chain, or via the environment during conventional animal husbandry. Furthermore, the substance should be harmless both for the animal and for the consumer.
The inventive method has the advantage that at least for a predetermined period the immune reaction creates a biological marking which is inseparably connected to the animal. The biological marking cannot be exchanged or forged; it cannot be removed by removing the transponder which is prescribed during slaughter and carcass cutting. The biological marking can be detected both in parts of the animal and in products originating therefrom. Detection is possible, for example, in blood, in milk or in other body secretions of the animal or in the drip or press fluid from the meat. At the same time, the transponder gives the possibility of identifying the animal reliably, rapidly and in a contact-free manner using physical methods. The security against forgery is achieved in particular by a double marking, physical and biological.
The immune reaction can take place in a time-delayed manner after administration of the substance. During this time, the marked animal can already be identified using the transponder. In a predetermined period, for example at least 6 months before slaughter, the animal is marked biologically and physically. The predetermined period can obviously also be longer than 6 months. It preferably starts a few days after _ WO 01/19178 PCT/DE00/02997

- 4 -administration of the substance and extends up to slaughter of the animal.
In addition, in the inventive method, it is advantageous that the transponder and the substance can be administered in one and the same working step. Thus it is possible, for example, to inject together with the transponder the substance which is present in solution or as suspension. A suitably prepared transponder can also be administered.
It is particularly advantageous in the inventive method that the double marking of the animal ensures markedly increased security. Thus in the case of an animal in which the transponder has been lost or damaged, the origin of the animal can nevertheless be detected by the biological marking. Vice versa, the transponder makes an unambiguous identification of an animal possible where, for some reason or other, no immune reaction, or no sufficient immune reaction, against the substance has occurred.
The substance can be coupled to a carrier and can be administered together with auxiliaries, for example additional adjuvants, in solution, as suspension or as an implant. Administration of a mixture of substances is also provided.
In a preferred embodiment of the inventive method a housing of the transponder is coated with the substance. The substance can be bound to the material by adsorbent chemicals, for example biopolymers. It is advantageous here that, due to the adsorption, an adjuvant effect can be achieved which leads to an enhanced immune response. The substance, however, can also be bound to the housing via an intermediate layer.
The binding can be performed, for example, via binding agents, for example biotin. The intermediate layer can

- 5 -consist, for example, of polystyrene or polycarbonate.
By means of the binding an adjuvant effect can be achieved. In addition, this can cause the substance to be released slowly in the body of the animal. This causes intense and lasting stimulation of the immune response.
In a further preferred embodiment of the inventive method, the substance is enclosed by, and/or embedded in, a composition delaying accessibility in the animal's body. As a result of this composition, the substance is protected against the attack of the immune system for a predetermined time. This gives the advantage that implantation can be performed even in the perinatal period, for example together with other treatments customarily carried out. Antibody formation is delayed and not induced until after, for example, a few weeks.
A further possibility is to provide a plurality of layers having intermediate delaying compositions. As a result, repeated release of the substance is possible over a relatively long period, so that the repeated stimulation of the immune reaction achieves high antibody titer lasting for a long period. A further advantage of a multilayer structure is that various substances can be used. By means of successive release of these substances taking place over the lifetime of the animal, biological marking can also be performed via which the age of the animal can be established both on the live animal and on individual products originating from the animal, such as meat and meat products. The compositions delaying availability which can be used are, for example, polyglycolic acid, polydioxanone, polyglycolides, polylactides, homopoly-mers and/or copolymers of glycolides and d/1-lactides and other biodegradable constituents, as described in US 3,887,699, US 3,991,766, US 4,045,418 and

- 6 -US 4,137,921. The disclosure content of said US patents is hereby incorporated by reference.
In a further preferred embodiment of the method, a specific digital code is transmitted by the transponder on appropriate excitation. This is possible, in particular, using a transponder which contains a digital circuit. This permits error-free detection of the transponder signal, with simultaneously lower transmission power. The code can be read even from relatively large distances. The digital code can contain information on the biological marking of the animal. This further increases the security of the method against forging. A transponder cannot be transplanted unnoticed into the body of another animal.
The substance can contain peptides and/or nucleic acids. They can cause an immune reaction either directly or indirectly. Substances which trigger an immune reaction directly are, for example, proteins or peptides or fragments thereof, such as: keyhole limpet hemocyanines, green fluorescent protein, from Aequoria victoria, inactivated snake venoms, virus proteins, hirudine, pheromonotropine, renalexine and artificial proteins and peptides whose amino acid sequence does not correspond to any previously known substance, but which are harmless to animals and consumers. Suitable peptides are, in particular, those having at least one nonphysiological amino acid, a modified amino acid, a D-amino acid and/or a derivative of such an amino acid.
Modified amino acids and derivatives can contain, for example, selenium, alkyl, phenyl or other radicals or carbohydrates.
An advantage of the peptides containing at least one nonphysiological amino acid is that they can be used to prepare substances with which the animals to be marked have not previously come into contact. Furthermore, _ WO 01/19178 PCT/DE00/02997 _ 7 _ these amino acids offer the advantage that by combining them a great number of different peptides can be provided. Individual marking of individual animals is possible. In addition, it is advantageous that by using the amino acids mentioned, peptides can be provided which are more stable in the body of the animal than are peptides having naturally occurring amino acids. A
particularly persistent immune stimulation and improved antibody titer can be achieved. Specially modified vaccines, that is to say vaccines suitable for marking purposes or appropriately produced vaccines, are also considered in this context to be a substance suitable for marking.
Reference is also made in this context to WO 98/18003 and WO 99/36775, the disclosure content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The nucleic acids can be present in an expression 2 0 vector . They can code for a defined immunogen . Such an immunogen can be, for example, one of the above specified proteins or peptides. An immune reaction can be triggered indirectly by administering the nucleic acids.
Furthermore, the substance can alternatively be a chemical agent or a chemical group, such as the dinitrophenyl group. Frequently, chemical agents or chemical groups must be coupled to relatively large molecules in order to be immunological. The dinitrophenyl group can be coupled, for example, to a protein, such as boroserum albumin, and as a result becomes immunogenic.
Conveniently, a code from the transponder can be read by an external transmitter and detector device. In this manner it is possible, for example, to supply farm animals in an enterprise with feed and defined _ g _ additives individually at an automated feeder or rapidly to record the origin of individual animals as they are being driven through. The method also makes it possible to record mechanically the origin of animals which have already been slaughtered and still contain the transponder, so that as a result, for example, in a carcass cutting operation, a processing route dependent on the origin can be controlled automatically.
The invention further relates to a method for identifying the origin of an animal marked by an inventive method, the antibodies and/or T cells and/or their receptors specifically formed by the substance being identified from a body fluid of the animal, from milk or from the drip fluid of meat originating therefrom.
A method for identifying antibodies has the advantage that it is always simple and rapid to carry out.
In a preferred embodiment of the inventive method, at least one of the following methods is used: Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (= ELISA), Enzyme Immuno Assay (= EIA), Immunoblot (= western blot), Immunodif-fusion, Immunofluorescence, Radio Immuno Assay (= RIA) , identification using a test stick and identification using a test chip. Identification is particularly simple using test sticks, which are dipped, for example, into the drip fluid of the meat of the slaughtered animal, or into milk. The origin of products obtained from livestock can thus be tested and demonstrated by anyone.
The invention further relates to a transponder whose housing is coated with a substance triggering an immune reaction in the animal that does not pass into the animal's body as vaccine, or via the food chain, or via the environment during usual animal husbandry. The transponder advantageously has a digital circuit for transmitting a digital code. Such transponders have a low power consumption. They can be read from a relatively great distance. The invention further relates to a kit having a transponder and at least one substance triggering an immune reaction in an animal that does not pass into the animal's body as vaccine, or via the food chain, or via the environment during usual animal husbandry. Because of the advantageous embodiments, reference is made in each case to the preceding descriptions.
Obviously, the features mentioned above and still to be explained hereinafter can be used not only in the combinations specified in each case, but also in other combinations or alone, without departing from the context of the present invention.
Other advantages result from the exemplary embodiments together with the drawings. In the drawings:
fig. 1 shows a diagrammatic cross section of a first exemplary embodiment and fig. 2 shows a diagrammatic cross section of a second exemplary embodiment.
In the figures a general transponder apparatus denoted by T exhibits a transponder 10 having a housing 14 which is expediently produced from a dielectric and biologically inert material. It can be glass, polyethylene, polystyrene or polycarbonate. The housing 14 is coated with a substance 16. The substance 16 is enclosed by a composition 18 which delays or retards the accessibility in the animal's body. This composition can be, for example, polyglycolic acid.

In the case of the transponder apparatus T shown in fig. 2, the substance 16 is bound to the housing 14 via an intermediate layer 15. The intermediate layer can be formed, for example, of polystyrene or polycarbonate.
In the inventive method, the transponder apparatus T is introduced into an animal to be marked by, for example, injecting it intramuscularly. After some weeks, the retardant composition 18 consisting, for example, of polyglycolic acid, dissolves. The substance 16, which can be, for example, keyhole limpet hemocyanine, then becomes accessible to the animal's immune system and causes an immune reaction in the animal directly or indirectly. The substance 16 can be released slowly, that is to say over the entire life of the animal, so that there is a high antibody titer in the animal over a long period. The substance 16 can be bound to the surface of the housing 14 directly or via adsorbent chemicals. The transponder 10 can contain a digital circuit which generates a specific digital code and thus permits a greater reading distance than do conventional transponders. Provided that the animal body marked in this way contains the transponder 10, it can be recorded via a corresponding transmitter and detector device. After slaughter and cutting up a carcass, the antibodies formed against the substance 16 can be identified, for example, in the meat drip fluid from the slaughtered animal. This can be performed, for example, by ELISA, in which the substance 16 has been immobilized to a microtiter plate. The antibodies from the meat drip fluid which bind to the microtiter plate can then be identified by means of the binding of enzyme-labeled secondary antibodies directed toward antibodies of the animal, and a corresponding enzyme reaction.

Claims

claims

1. A method for marking an animal and products originating therefrom, a transponder (10) being introduced into the body of the animal, which transponder is constructed in such a manner that on suitable excitation a specific digital code is transmitted, characterized in that at least one substance (16) triggering an immune reaction which does not pass into the animal's body as vaccine, or via the food chain, or via the environment during usual animal husbandry is administered to the animal together with the transponder (10) in one and the same working step, so that for a predetermined period biological and physical marking are achieved simultaneously, the specific code transmitted by the transponder (10) containing information on the biological marking.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, the substance and the transponder (10) being injected.

3. The method as claimed in either of claims 1 or 2, a housing (14) of the transponder (10) being coated with the substance (16).

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, the substance (16) being bound to the housing (14) by adsorbent chemicals.

5. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the substance (16) being enclosed by, and/or embedded in, a composition (18) delaying accessibility in the animal's body.

6. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the substance containing peptides, proteins or fragments thereof and/or nucleic acids.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, the peptides containing at least one nonphysiological amino acid, modified amino acid, D-amino acid and/or a derivative of such amino acids.

8. The method as claimed in either of claims 6 or 7, the nucleic acids being present in an expression vector.

9. A method for identifying the marking of an animal marked in accordance with one of the preceding claims, the code from the transponder (10) being read by an external transmitter and detector device.

10. The method for identifying the marking of an animal marked according to one of claims 1 to 8, in particular as claimed in claim 9, the antibodies and/or T cells and/or their receptors specifically formed by the substance (16) being identified from a body fluid of the animal, from milk or from the drip fluid of meat originating therefrom.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, at least one of the following methods being used: Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (= ELISA), Enzyme Immuno Assay (= EIA), Immunoblot (= western blot), Immunodif-fusion, Immunofluorescence, Radio Immuno Assay (= RIA); identification using a test stick and identification using a test chip.

12. A transponder for marking an animal, a housing (14) of the transponder (10) being coated with a substance and the transponder (10) containing a circuit for transmitting a digital code, characterized in that the substance is a substance (16) triggering an immune reaction in the animal that does not pass into the animal's body as vaccine, or via the food chain, or via the environment during usual animal husbandry, and in that the code transmitted by the transponder contains information on the biological marking.

13. The transponder as claimed in claim 12, the substance (16) being bound to the housing (14) by adsorbent chemicals.

14. The transponder as claimed in either of claims 12 or 13, the substance (16) being enclosed by and/or embedded in a composition (18) delaying accessibility in the animal's body.

15. The transponder as claimed in one of claims 12 to 14, the circuit being a digital circuit.

16. A kit having a transponder (12) and at least one substance (16) triggering an immune reaction in an animal that does not pass into the animal's body as vaccine, or via the food chain, or via the environment during usual animal husbandry.