Method and system for controlling meat products

• US 20030062001A1
• Filed: 09/30/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hakan Guldkula
• Original Assignee: Hakan Andersson
• Inventors: Andersson, Hakan
• Granted Patent: US 6,878,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 119/174
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/008 incorporating GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A22B 5/0064 for classifying or grading carcasses; for measuring back fat

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a system wherein an animal (10) at birth is provided with at least one electronic tag (20), comprising communicating means and an identification code. The code represents a specific location in a network-connected database (60,) being updated wirelessly (50) from the tag (20) to at least one receiver (40) connected to the position determining means and a time determining means and in connection with said network, registering time- and positioning information related to the animal (10). Additional information about the animal is provided to the database (60). The registered information is utilized for authorizing at least one of slaughtering and distributing actions for the purpose of at least one of meat production, meat product manufacturing and breeding. An electronic tagging of each piece of meat cut up at the time of slaughter is performed, each additional tag comprising communication means and a code connecting to said database (60) location, registering time- and positioning information related to the meat via said receiver. When refining the meat into packaged products a scanning and removing of the tags from the cut-up pieces of meat is performed and each packaged product is subsequently provided with a replacement tag comprising communication means and a code connecting to at least one database (60) location, registering time- and positioning information related to the meat product via said receiver.

Claims

1. A method for controlling and authenticating quality and origin by means of electronic tagging, electronic surveillance and positioning of livestock, meat and meat products via networks for data and telecommunication and position determining means, comprising the steps of:

providing an animal (10) at birth with at least one electronic tag (20), comprising communication means and an identification code;

representing, through the code, a specific location in a network connected database (60), being updated wirelessly (50) from the tag (20) to at least one receiver (40) connected to the position determining means and a time determining means and in connection with said network, registering time- and positioning information related to the animal (10);

providing additional information about the animal to the database (60);

authorizing out of the information at least one of slaughtering and distributing actions for the purpose of at least one of meat production, meat product manufacturing and breeding;

scanning and replacing the tag (20), when the animal is slaughtered, with an electronic tagging of each piece of meat cut up at the time of slaughter, wherein each additional tag comprises communication means and a code connecting to said database (60) location, registering time- and positioning information related to the meat via said receiver; and

scanning and removing the tags from the cut-up pieces of meat when refining the meat into packaged products and wherein each packaged product subsequently is provided with a replacement tag comprising communication means and a code connecting to at least one database (60) location, registering time- and positioning information related to the meat products via said receiver; and

thus having an unbroken chain of time- and positioning information and additional information providing an enhanced means for detecting and avoiding livestock, meat and meat products having been positioned in areas where sickness has been known during an animals lifetime or time as meat or meat product, and the continuity in time and positioning data together with the additional information providing traceability and verifiability of the quality and origin of the animals, meat and meat products.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the position of the animal, meat or meat product is determined through position determining means comprised in the tag (20).

3. A method according to claims 1-2, wherein at least one of air and animal meat temperature is measured for the animal, meat or meat product through a temperature determining means comprised in the tag (20).

4. A method according to claims 1-3, wherein each additional tag provided at the time of slaughter has the same code as the tag (20) provided at birth and refers to the database location for additional updating with slaughtering and production-related data.

5. A method according to claims 1-4, wherein the code in the tag of each packaged product represents and connects to animal data in one or more locations in the database (60) in accordance with the mixing of meat from different animals in the product.

6. A method according to claims 1-5, wherein an end customer gains access to at least part of the stored animal data through a local computerized interface (80) and via the code in the tag for self-information of the quality and origin of animals, meat and meat products for sale.

7. A method according to claims 1-6, wherein the tag (20) is a transponder injected and fastened in the muscle or skeleton of the animal (10), preferably in the nape of the neck.

8. A method according to claims 1-6, wherein the tag is a smart label fastened to a package containing meat.

9. A method according to claims 1-8, wherein the wireless (50) registering of information is accomplished by transmitting data through RFID-, bluetooth-, cellular radio technology or wireless local area networks.

10. A method according to claims 1-9, wherein the position determining means utilizes GPS, cellular radio technology or existing geographic databases.

11. A method according to claims 1-10, wherein a discontinuity in animal time- and positioning data in the database (60) is notified and constitutes a possible hindrance for allowing distributing animals, meat or meat products to a market.

12. A method according to claims 1-11, wherein registrations of animal positioning data in the database (60) are numerically compared with registered positions of alarms concerning diseases, unauthorized food content or contamination, for notifications in the database constituting possible hindrances for allowing distributing animals, meat or meat products to a market if the positioning data are found matching or close to matching according to a predetermined threshold for the positioning data.

13. A system for controlling and authenticating quality and origin by means of electronic tagging, electronic surveillance and positioning of livestock, meat and meat products via networks for data and telecommunication and position determining means, comprising:

an electronic tag (20), provided to an animal (10) at birth comprising communicating means and an identification code;

at least one identification code receiver (40) triggering time- and position registrations;

a network connected database (60) wherein a specific location is represented through the code, the database location being updated wirelessly (50) from the tag (20) via the receiver (40), registering time- and positioning information related to the animal (10);

data inputting means for providing additional information about the animal to the specific database location;

means for authorizing, out of the information, at least one of slaughtering and distributing actions for the purpose of at least one of meat production, meat product manufacturing and breeding;

tag scanning means for scanning and replacing the tag (20), when the animal is slaughtered, with an electronic tagging of each piece of meat cut up at the time of slaughter, wherein each additional tag comprises communication means and a code connecting to said database (60) location, registering time- and positioning information related to the meat via said receiver; and

scanning and removing the tags from the cut-up pieces of meat when refining the meat into packaged products and wherein each packaged product subsequently is provided with a replacement tag comprising communication means and a code connecting to at least one database (60) location, registering time- and positioning information related to the meat products via said receiver; and

thus having an unbroken chain of time- and positioning information and additional information providing an enhanced means for detecting and avoiding livestock, meat and meat products having been positioned in areas where sickness has been known during an animals lifetime or time as meat or meat product, and the continuity in time and positioning data together with the additional information providing traceability and verifiability of the quality and origin of the animals, meat and meat products.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the tag (20) further comprises position determining means

15. A system according to claims 13-14, wherein the tag (20) further comprises temperature determining means.

16. A system according to claims 13-15, wherein each additional tag provided at the time of slaughter is arranged to have the same code as the tag (20) provided to the animal at birth and to refer to the database location for additional updating with slaughtering and production-related data.

17. A system according to claims 13-16, wherein the code in the tag of each packaged product represents and connects to animal data in one or more locations in the database (60) in accordance with the mixing of meat from different animals in the product.

18. A system according to claims 13-17, wherein an end customer through a local computerized interface (80) and via the code in the tag have means for accessing at least part of the stored animal data for self-informing of the quality and origin of animals, meat and meat products for sale.

19. A system according to claims 13-18, wherein the tag (20) is a transponder arranged to be injected and fastened in the muscle or skeleton of the animal (10), preferably in the nape of the neck.

20. A system according to claims 13-18, wherein the tag is a smart label arranged to be fastened to a package containing meat.

21. A system according to claims 13-20, wherein the wireless registering (50) of information is arranged to be accomplished through RFID-, bluetooth-, cellular radio technology or wireless local area networks.

22. A system according to claims 13-21, wherein the position determining means is arranged to utilize GPS, cellular radio technology or existing geographic databases.

23. A system according to claims 13-22, wherein absent or discontinuous registrations of time- and positioning data in the database (60) is notified and arranged to constitute a hindrance for allowing distributing animals, meat and meat products to a market.

24. A system according to claims 13-23, wherein registrations of animal positioning data in the database (60) are arranged to be numerically compared with registered positions of alarms concerning diseases, unauthorized food content, contamination, or the like, for notifications in the database constituting possible hindrances for allowing distributing animals, meat or meat products to a market if the positioning data are found matching or close to matching according to a predetermined threshold for the positioning data.