Granted Patent B2

US 9,135,501 · App. 14/169,935 · Granted Sep 15, 2015

Abstract

Claims (32)

1. A method of tracing the origins of a product, comprising:

receiving a request for the origin of the product, wherein the request comprises information about the product;

based on the information received about the product, determining a corresponding window of traceability for the product;

determining at least one carcass that was present at a production facility during the window of traceability;

determining a lot associated with the at least one carcass; reviewing an image of an organ separated from said at least one carcass;

establishing, based on a computer analysis of said image including accessing visual evidence of said image for the presence of abnormalities of said at least one organ, whether said at least one carcass was administered a drug during its life span;

generating a report containing information regarding the origins of the product;

and wherein the product is a meat product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the product is an organ.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the organ is selected from the group consisting of brain, liver, tongue, pancreas gland, thymus gland, stomach, feet, kidney, lungs, heart, small intestine, testicles, placenta, crop and caul.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the production facility is a meat production facility.

5. A system for producing and tracking a meat product, comprising:

a meat production facility comprising a number of production areas;

means for capturing images of animal organs that pass within an area of interest in at least one production area;

determining the presence or absence of an administered drug or combination of drugs for a captured image, wherein said determining step comprises accessing visual evidence of said image for the presence of abnormalities of said at least one organ;

a database used to store information relating to the images and products that are produced within the meat production facility;

a central processor that is operable to receive information relating to the images and products from at least one of the production areas and transfer the information to the database for storage, wherein the information at least comprises a window of traceability corresponding to at least one of the production areas;

wherein the means for capturing images is a camera; and

wherein the camera is a digital camera.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising means for generating a report containing information regarding the origins of the meat product.

7. A method for auditing a meat production process, comprising:

separating at least one organ of interest from other organs;

grading the at least one organ of interest;

capturing an image of the at least one organ of interest;

associating the at least one organ of interest and the image with at least one of an animal and a lot of origin;

analyzing the image using a computer;

based on the analyzing, determining the grade of the at least one organ of interest;

associating the determined grade of the at least one organ of interest with the at least one of an animal and lot of origin;

determining the presence or absence of an administered drug or combination of drugs for one of the at least one of an animal and lot of origin, wherein said determining step comprises accessing visual evidence of said image for the presence of abnormalities of said at least one organ;

wherein the organ is selected from the group consisting of brain, liver, tongue, pancreas gland, thymus gland, stomach, feet, kidney, lungs, heart, small intestine, testicles, placenta, crop and caul; and

generating a report containing information regarding the organ's animal of origin.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising generating a report containing information regarding the organ's lot of origin.

Assignments (13)