Objective Carcass Measurement - TWAVES investigation

Summary

This project looked at the opportunities for using Terahertz and Millimetre waves as measurement tools within the meat industry to enable more benefits to be derived. The development of commercial applications at these wavelengths was the last to be tackled of all of the electromagnetic spectrum. This was mainly as a result of not having the physical hardware to be able to do this until recently. These technologies may provide some potential opportunities to the Australian red Meat industry and it was recommended that they be pursued and an ongoing watching brief developed to keep abreast of the developments that are taking place.
Potential applications included:
Contaminant detection of type and location on carcases on the slaughter floor.Fat depth measurement or overall carcase subcutaneous fat depth Meat quality and eating assessment on the hot carcase.Moisture content possibility in trim sorting into cartons and remove manual sorting for specific Chemical Lean levels based on trim moisture component.However little applied research has been done in the organic arena and even less specifically on meat and many further opportunities potentially exist but are yet to be identified.Dimensional imaging of carcases.Confirmation of broken bags.