This invention relates generally to methods for determining the age of animals, and more specifically to methods for measuring physical properties of animals to determine a likely age using non-invasive technologies.
It is often times desirable or important for a packer to be able to determine the age of an animal at the time of slaughter. A particular need to determine the age of animals at slaughter exists in the beef industry. The emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has led to the need to differentiate animals that are older than 30 months of age at the time of slaughter. Further, for some export markets such as Japan, it is necessary to differentiate animals that are younger than 20 months of age at the time of slaughter. Currently, chronological age is estimated by subjective observations by trained personnel. Most commonly, a visual inspection of an animal's teeth is used to estimate that animal's age. For carcass grading purposes, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service evaluates the amount of ossification in the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral vertebrae. Because of variations in biology from animal to animal, and because of the subjective nature of the observations, these methods are not as accurate as desired.
There is therefore a need for a method of estimating the age of an animal, or animal carcass, based on objective criteria.
According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for non-invasive determination of age of an animal by observing a physical characteristic using a non-invasive technique, and correlating that characteristic to age of the animal.
In one embodiment, the physical characteristic is a characteristic of a bone, and the observing is done using an imaging technology such as X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultrasound.
In another embodiment, the physical characteristic is a characteristic of connective tissue, and the observing is done using a spectroscopic technology such as near infra-red, infra-red, fluorescence, or Raman spectroscopy.
While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. As will be apparent, the invention is capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
Methods for determining the age of an animal prior to, or shortly after, slaughter are provided. While the drawings and embodiments discussed relate primarily to cattle and beef carcasses, the methods may be used for with any meat-carcasses (for example pork, lamb, veal, cow, and bull), poultry (for example, turkey and chicken) or fish from any source. The present invention may be applied to live animals of any age. That is, the present invention may be applicable to an animal at any stage of its life (i.e., birth to death—whatever age that may be).
Alternatively, a graphical method may be used. For example, specimens of known age may be measured for two different properties and plotted on a graph with a first axis corresponding to a first property and a second axis corresponding to a second property. A pattern may be apparent that permits an estimation of an animals age depending upon where on the graph the two measures fall.
Generally, any suitable manner of generating an equation or representative graph may be used for correlating at least one property with age. Further, any suitable property varying with age may be used. Those of skill in the art will be aware of techniques for performing this regression analysis, and for determining samples sizes necessary to develop an accurate relationship. In some instances, the relationship may have been determined by prior research conducted by third parties.
The second step 20 of
Once the physical property has been observed in the animal or carcass of unknown age, the final step 30 is to determine the age of the animal or carcass based on the observed property. This determination may be done by inserting the property value into the equation described in the first step 10 to determine and estimated age. Alternatively, the determination may be done by charting the value of the observed characteristic on a graph of such characteristic versus age.
The second step 50 is to measure the physical characteristics used to estimate an age of an animal or carcass of the first step 40 in animals or carcasses of unknown age. Measurement, or observation, may be done using imaging technology, spectroscopic technology, or other suitable technique.
The final step 60 is to correlate the measured or observed physical characteristics with age to determine the age of the animal or carcass. In one embodiment, such correlation done by inserting the observed values into the best fit equation determined through the regression analysis to arrive at an estimated age of the animal or carcass. In another embodiment, such correlation is done by charting the values of the measured characteristics on a graph of such characteristics versus age.
In alternative embodiment using a plurality of observed or measured characteristics, the age values determined by individual characteristic regression analysis may be averaged to determine an average estimated age for each value. According to this embodiment, best fit curves are determined for age as a function of each individual variable physical characteristic, as described with respect to the method of
Those of skill in the art will be aware of numerous physical properties and numerous observation techniques that may be utilized in the above-described fashion to determine an estimated age for animals and animal carcasses. Specific example embodiments are described in more detail below.
As an animal ages, physical properties of its connective tissue change. For example, as a mammal ages, the amount of cross-linking in its collagen increases. This cross-linking is a result of a glycosylation reaction between adjacent strands of collagen. This glycosylation reaction occurs at a predictable rate. The level of cross-linking can be measured directly using near infrared (NIR) spectrophotometry. NIR measures shifts in the spectral reflectance at certain wavelengths. In the case of collagen, the range of emphasis is 1600 to 1700 nm wavelengths. This range has been established as measuring many of the collagen interaction bonds, although other ranges along the spectra may include important information and may be used. In addition to NIR technology, infra-red (IR), fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy may be used to estimate the level of cross-linking in connective tissue.
An arrangement for estimating the age of an animal carcass by measuring the level of cross-linking is illustrated in
Regardless of orientation of the animal carcass portion 100, an emitter 104 and a receiver 106 are mounted in an operable position near the travel path of the carcass, for arrangements involving travel of the carcass, or near the carcass, for stationary arrangements. The emitter 104 emits a signal 114 which is reflected off of the animal carcass 100 as reflected signal 116, which is received by receiver 106. In practice, the emitter 104 and receiver 106 may be a single spectroscopy device such as an NIR, IR, fluorescence, or Raman spectrometer. According to one embodiment, the emitter 104 and receiver 106 are mounted near a hind-leg transfer station to measure physical properties of a calcanean tendon in a beef carcass.
The receiver 106 translates the reflected signal 116 from the animal carcass portion 100 into data that is transferred to a computer central processing unit (CPU) 108, for example by wire 110. Other mechanisms such as RF or IR signals may be used to transmit the data from the receiver 106 to the CPU 108. The CPU 108 may write the data to a hard drive, or other storage device. In one embodiment, the CPU 108 is loaded with software to permit the CPU 108 to compute an estimated age of the animal carcass portion based on a known or determined relationship between the level of cross-linking and the age of the animal. In alternative embodiments, the estimated age is determined manually, for example by correlating the observed or measured value with a graph of the value versus age.
A monitor, or display screen 112 may be provided with the CPU 108 to display information. The monitor 112 may display the readings of specific cross-linking levels within the animal carcass portions 100 as well as the estimated age for those portions 100. The CPU 108 may be connected to a network to transmit information related to an animal carcass portion 100 to additional computers. A warning signal may be displayed on the monitor 112 in case of erroneous or unrecognized readings from the receiver 106. Additionally the CPU 108 may provide a signal, for example a visual or audible signal, in case the estimated age of an animal carcass portion 100 is older than a desired age.
It should be appreciated that, in arrangements where the carcass portion is moving, the travel of the animal carcass portion 100 may be halted at least momentarily to ensure an accurate reading of the reflected radiation may be obtained by the receiver 106. In alternative embodiments, such halting may not be necessary. Further, in some situations, it may be necessary or desirable to manually arrange the animal carcass portion 100 into a desired position and orientation in order to best get an accurate reading. It may also be desirable to take several measurements of the level of cross-linking at various points on the animal carcass portion 100 to determine an average level of cross-linking within that animal carcass portion 100.
Any other suitable method for measuring the amount of cross-linking in connective tissue may alternatively be used. Thus, other indirect methods may be used to measure the amount of cross-linking in connective tissue. For example, the thermal transition temperature is the temperature at which collagen is converted into gelatin. The thermal transition temperature of collagen increases as the amount of cross-linking increases. Collagen from older animals has accumulated more cross-links and, thus, will have an elevated thermal transition temperature as compared to collagen from younger animals. Those of skill in the art will be aware of various methods for measuring the transition temperature of collagen specimens.
Similarly, as the cross-linking within connective tissue increases, the elasticity of that connective tissue decreases. Therefore, an alternative method of estimating the age an animal carcass is to test the elasticity of a portion of the carcass and compare it to a predetermined regression curve or expected age as a function of elasticity. The gambrel tendon on beef hind quarter is specific example of connective tissue that may be used for this type of measurement. Elasticity may be measured in a number of ways, including, without limitation, compression tests, deformation tests, tensile strength tests, or a combination of such tests. Two commercially available products that might be used in conducting such tests are a Universal Materials Testing Machine, by Instron (Norwood, Mass.) and TA.TX2 by Texture Technologies (Scarsdale, N.Y.). Other suitable methods for measuring elasticity known to those skill in the art may also be used.
Additionally, or alternatively, other physical features that change with age may be measured in the connective tissue of animals using spectroscopic devices. Such features include collagen form, isometric tension, thermal transition temperature. The relationships and ratios that exist between such measures may be used to estimate the age of an animal or carcass.
Bone is a dynamic tissue with physical properties that undergo changes as an animal ages. These physical properties include, for example, bone density, bone length and diameter, internal cavity characteristics such as porosity, hollowness and the like, mineral deposit composition, and growth plate properties. For example,
As discussed above, a first step for estimating age is to determine a relationship between one or more physical features that can be observed through imaging technologies and the age of the animal. This may be done by observing samples of animals of known ages, and then conducting regression analyses. The relationship may be based on observation of a single property (i.e., age=f(x), where x is a measure of a physical property) (see
According to the embodiment of
Each of the pairs of emitters 202a, 202b and receivers 204a, 204b correspond to a specific type of imaging technology. For example emitter 202a and receiver 204a might be an X-ray, while 202b and 204b might be formed by a magnetic resonance imaging machine. Any combination of technologies may be used. In some embodiments, the same technology may be used for each of the emitters 202a, 202b and receivers 204a, 204b. In some embodiments, only a single emitter 202a and receiver 204a is used.
In some embodiments, a user may provide input to the computer 212 to specify the data to be used. For example, where the first emitter 202a and receiver pair 204a are an X- ray and the variable being measured is the length of a portion of a bone, the user may provide input to the computer 212 as to what portion of the bone to measure.
It should be appreciated that the cabinet 200 may include any number of emitter and receiver pairs comprising any combination of imaging technologies. Alternatively, each imaging technology measurement may be taken at separate cabinets 200 or at other locations in the process. Separate computers 212 may be attached to each receiver. The measurements need not be taken on the same portion of the carcass. For example, if the two factors being correlated are length of a portion of a leg bone and a density of a jaw bone, the measurements may be made after the animal has been slaughtered and separated into parts.
It should further be appreciated that spectroscopic and imaging technology methods could be combined in estimating an animal's age. For example, a first physical characteristic could be measured by spectroscopic means and a second physical characteristic by imaging technology means. A correlation based on the two factors could be determined using regression analysis, and the age of animals could then be estimated based on measurements of the two factors.
A case study was performed using NIR technology to differentiate collagen cross-links in beef tendons. According to the study, a shift in the spectral profile of beef tendons was measured.
Although the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, persons skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application claims priority to International Application Number PCT/US2006/023084 entitled, “OBJECTIVE METHODS OF ESTIMATING AGE OF ANIMALS AND CARCASSES” having an International Filing Date of Jun. 13, 2006, and which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety and this application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/689,827 filed on Jun 13, 2005, entitled “OBJECTIVE METHODS OF ESTIMATING AGE OF ANIMALS AND CARCASSES” and which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US2006/023084 | 6/13/2006 | WO | 00 | 10/15/2009 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60689827 | Jun 2005 | US |