CN111655038A

CN111655038A - Method for treating meat animals and for marking meat animals

Info

Publication number: CN111655038A
Application number: CN201880079615.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: B·诺瓦克; T·里普肯; H·迈尔
Original assignee: B Nuowake; Hanover Laser Center
Current assignee: B Nuowake; Hanover Laser Center; LZH Laser Zentrum Hannover eV
Priority date: 2017-12-12
Filing date: 2018-12-11
Publication date: 2020-09-11
Also published as: WO2019115504A1; DE102017129574B9; DE102017129574B3; EP3723489A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for treating meat animals, comprising the following steps: providing anesthetized or dead meat animals, the flesh of said meat animals having at least one marking; and cleaning and depilating the flesh, wherein the at least one marking has been produced by means of a radiation source for electromagnetic radiation, which radiation source emits electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength of more than 1 μm, wherein the absorption coefficient of the electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10²1/m and up to 10⁵1/m, wherein the at least one marking is configured such that the at least one marking is readable after the cleaning and epilation of the flesh.

Description

Method for treating meat animals and for marking meat animals

Technical Field

The invention relates to a method for treating meat animals, wherein the method comprises the following steps: providing anesthetized or dead meat animals having flesh with at least one marker; and cleaning and depilating the flesh.

Background

Today, slaughtering of meat animals is often carried out in large slaughterhouses, where large numbers of animals are killed and processed in a short time. It is important to be able to keep track of which animal the individual meat body or meat body part being treated belongs to during the treatment of the meat animal for as long as possible. This is important, for example, in order to be able to comply with health regulations and consumer protection regulations, for example, in order to be able to associate, for example, meat pieces with certain livestock and, thus, for example, also certain breeding companies, for example, after the meat animals have been processed. In this way, diseased livestock and parts thereof can be identified and removed from the processing chain, for example, at a later point in time after or during the treatment. However, it is also important for the requirements of economy and settlement technology that individual carcass parts of a meat animal can be associated with a determined animal during the processing of the meat animal.

Thus, different methods of marking livestock are known from the prior art. Here, the livestock are provided with branding, for example. Here, heat is induced into the somatic tissue causing coagulation, thus forming a scar that remains detectable. However, it is disadvantageous that the marking caused by the branding (which can also be caused by laser light, for example, at present) is merely a marking of the opposite surface of the carcass of the livestock. The depth of invasion is usually very small. In modern slaughterhouses, where meat animals are treated industrially, individual bodies are cleaned and de-haired in a manner that is not particularly gentle. Thus, hair or bristles are scraped or burned, or a plurality of meat animal bodies are put into a cleaning drum which is in rotation. As the drum rotates, these flesh strike and rub against each other and also slide and scrape along the inner wall of the drum. Thereby, these flesh are cleaned and depilated. However, this can also lead to extensive skin abrasion on the flesh of the livestock, whereby the branding that may be present can be completely removed or at least no longer readable.

An alternative method for identifying meat animals consists in applying markings, for example chips or plastic tags, for example, to the ears of the animals. If a number of animals designated in this way are cleaned and unhaired in the cleaning cylinder, there is the following risk: in this case, the respective carcass part, in particular the ear, is separated from the rest of the carcass, so that the marking can no longer be associated with the carcass.

Marking of livestock by means of a laser is known from US 3,916,143, wherein the hair or skin of the livestock is decolorized and irreversibly marked in the irradiated region. This is branding. WO 01/05238 a1 describes a method with which two-dimensional patterns and codes can be burned or introduced into the surface of the flesh of livestock, whereby additional information can be encoded.

However, it is disadvantageous in all these methods that it cannot be ensured that the introduced marking withstands the method steps of depilation and cleaning in a less gentle manner without damage. This results in that it may no longer be possible to fully associate the meat body or meat body portion of the animal with the delivered animal and thus with the breeding enterprise.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the invention is to eliminate or at least reduce these disadvantages.

The invention solves the stated object by means of a method according to the preamble of claim 1, characterized in that the at least one marking has been produced by means of a radiation source for electromagnetic radiation, which emits electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength greater than 1 μm, wherein the absorption coefficient of the electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10²1/m and up to 10⁵1/m, wherein the at least one marking is configured such that the at least one marking is readable after cleaning and epilation of the flesh.

In the sense of the present invention, the marking is readable when the information contained in the marking can also be read and obtained again after cleaning and defeathering of the flesh. This can be done, for example, by the human eye or mechanically, for example, by means of an image recognition device, for example a camera, which transmits the captured image to a computing unit, in which the image can be further processed and processed using image recognition software.

The invention is based on the surprising recognition that: electromagnetic radiation of the type mentioned is suitable for the corresponding marking, although electromagnetic radiation of other wavelengths cannot or cannot be adapted to this with such low energy quantities and radiation intensities.

The absorption coefficient of electromagnetic radiation in water is strongly related to the corresponding wavelength of the radiation. Wavelength greater than 1 μm and absorption coefficient in water of 10²1/m and 10⁵Electromagnetic radiation between 1/m has optimal absorption characteristics to produce a mark of optimal penetration depth. For electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of less than 1 μm there is also a wavelength range in which the absorption coefficient is realized. However, in this case, the depth of invasion of the radiation into the tissues of the livestock is so great that the desired effect cannot be achieved. Particularly preferred wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation are 1.5 μm or 2 μm.

Electromagnetic radiation with an absorption coefficient in water has the disadvantage that it is too large outside the claimed range. If the absorption coefficient is less than 10²1/m, the electromagnetic radiation is only very weakly absorbed in the water forming the main component of the livestock cells. This means that the electromagnetic radiation has a very high penetration depth, so that the tissue of the meat animals is also damaged at great depths. However, if the absorption coefficient is higher than 10⁵1/m, the electromagnetic radiation hardly penetrates into the tissue of the livestock, since it is absorbed very strongly. Thus, the marks to be made therewith are very superficial and not deep enough to withstand subsequent cleaning or other processing steps.

Preferably, the absorption coefficient of electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10³1/m, preferably at least 8 x 10³1/m and/or up to 5 x 10⁴1/m, preferably at most 3 x 10⁴1/m。

Advantageously, the provision of the meat animals comprises the following steps:

a) anesthetizing the meat animals;

b) bleeding the meat animals; and

c) marking the meat animals.

Preferably, the meat animals are labeled after they are anesthetized, but before exsanguination. Of course, the three method steps for providing the meat animals may also be performed in other orders. Thus, it is especially envisaged that live meat animals have been labeled, for example as young animals, for example as piglets or young cows. Thus, throughout the life of the meat animals and during subsequent further processing, a clear association is possible, wherein the marking cannot be easily removed from the animals. In this case, the meat animals will be labeled prior to anesthesia and exsanguination. It is also conceivable to mark meat animals that have been killed and bled. However, for reasons of hygiene, it is advantageous to let as little time as possible pass after exsanguination before the meat animals and their flesh are further processed. Therefore, it is advantageous to mark the meat animals prior to exsanguination.

Of course, the term "meat animals" is not limited to quadruped or furred animals in the sense of the present invention. The method can be applied to any kind of meat animals, such as poultry or wild animals.

By "cleaning and epilating" of the flesh is understood, in the sense of the present invention, the flesh of the meat animal is released from all parts that have to be removed before the meat animal is treated. This may be, for example, hair, fur, feathers or bristles. Furthermore, the flesh is cleaned, i.e. in particular cleaned of sludges and dirt and, if necessary, pathogens or other dirt. The methods used here have been known for a long time to the person skilled in the art.

Advantageously, the meat animals are marked with a marking device which contains a radiation source and which advantageously has at least one contact element which is placed on the part of the meat animals to be marked. The contact element is advantageous but not necessary. On the one hand, it is ensured by the contact element that the radiation source, which is part of the marking device, is always placed at the correct distance onto the skin of the meat animals, so that the desired marking can be produced. However, when electromagnetic radiation is undesirable, emission of electromagnetic radiation from the radiation source is also reliably prevented. Thus, the contact element may, for example, comprise a triggering protection device which is configured such that the radiation source can emit electromagnetic radiation only when the contact element is placed on the meat animal. Therefore, the worker of the meat animal enterprise can be prevented from being injured.

In a preferred embodiment, the radiation source is a laser. In particular, the use of a trigger protection has proven effective for this case in order to prevent the laser beam from being emitted unintentionally.

Advantageously, the marking also comprises at least one relief-like alteration of the flesh surface. This is advantageously at least one recess. One-dimensional or two-dimensional marks with corresponding encodings for additional information may of course also be applied. For example, a bar code can be applied, which consists of a plurality of depressions on the surface of the flesh, which preferably extend parallel to one another.

Preferably, the at least one marking also has at least one blackened portion. Preferably, the mark has a depth of at least 1mm from the surface of the flesh. In this way it is ensured that the marking is not, or at least not completely, removed from the animal flesh in the different methods for treating the livestock. In this way, the mark remains visible and readable during the treatment of the meat animals. Especially when using markers that also include a blackened portion of the tissue of the flesh of the animal, the markers so introduced can be easily identified and processed using image recognition and image processing software.

The method can be carried out, for example, in a fully automated slaughtering and processing plant. The marking device can be arranged, for example, as an end effector on a robot arm or other mechanical arm and automatically moved such that the preferably present contact element comes into contact with the flesh of the meat animal. The presence of new meat bodies of the meat animals to be marked can be identified by means of the sensor. This may be, for example, a pressure or force sensor or an image recognition sensor, which is used, for example, for a camera image of a camera.

Advantageously, in using the method, the marking may be performed prior to cleaning the meat animals. In order to be able to apply the marking, it is not necessary to first remove coarse dirt from the carcass of the animal. In particular when using lasers, but also in the case of other radiation sources, these contaminants are removed by the applied electromagnetic radiation at least to such an extent that a marking can be placed.

Advantageously, the flesh of the meat animals is cleaned and epilated in a cleaning cylinder, in which advantageously a plurality of flesh is cleaned and epilated simultaneously.

The invention also solves the stated object by means of a method for marking meat bodies of meat animals, wherein in the method a marking is produced by means of a radiation source for emitting electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength of more than 1 μm, wherein the absorption coefficient of the electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10²1/m and up to 10⁵1/m, wherein the part of the body to be marked is irradiated with electromagnetic radiation from a radiation source. Preferably, the absorption coefficient of said electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10³1/m, preferably at least 8 x 10³1/m and/or up to 5 x 10⁴1/m, preferably at most 3 x 10⁴1/m. Advantageously, the meat animals are still alive at the time of marking.

Claims

1. A method for treating meat animals, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

-providing anesthetized or dead meat animals, the flesh of said meat animals having at least one marking; and

-cleaning and depilating the flesh,

characterized in that the at least one marking has been produced by means of a radiation source for electromagnetic radiation, which radiation source emits electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength greater than 1 μm, wherein the absorption coefficient of the electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10²1/m and up to 10⁵1/m, wherein the at least one marking is configured such that the at least one marking is readable after the cleaning and epilation of the flesh.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic radiation has an absorption coefficient in water of at least 10³1/m, preferably up toLess than 8 x 10³1/m and/or up to 5 x 10⁴1/m, preferably at most 3 x 10⁴1/m。

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the provision of the meat animals has the following steps:

-anaesthetizing said meat animals;

-bleeding said meat animals; and

-marking said meat animals,

wherein the meat animals are preferably marked after the meat animals are anesthetized and before exsanguination.

4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that the meat animals are marked with a marking device which contains the radiation source and preferably has at least one contact element which is placed onto the part of the meat animals to be marked.

5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one marking further comprises at least a relief-like modification of the flesh surface, in particular at least one depression.

6. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one marking also has at least a blackened portion.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one mark has a depth of at least 1mm from the surface of the flesh.

8. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flesh is cleaned and de-haired in a cleaning cylinder, in which a plurality of flesh is preferably cleaned and de-haired simultaneously.

9. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the radiation source is a laser.

10. Method for marking the flesh of a meat animal, wherein in the method the marking is made by means of a radiation source for electromagnetic radiation, which radiation source emits electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of more than 1 μm, wherein the absorption coefficient of the electromagnetic radiation in water is at least 10²1/m and up to 10⁵1/m, wherein the part of the body to be marked is irradiated by the electromagnetic radiation of the radiation source.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the electromagnetic radiation has an absorption coefficient in water of at least 10³1/m, preferably at least 8 x 10³1/m and/or up to 5 x 10⁴1/m, preferably at most 3 x 10⁴1/m。

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the meat animals are alive at the time of marking.