21st Century Meat Inspector

Poultry is the most popular meat in the UK, and its effective inspection within processing facilities is essential to ensure regulatory compliance. Poultry inspection is performed manually and is extremely challenging due to the short time available to inspect each bird and the sustained level of concentration required. This feasibility project will investigate how existing and new inspection technologies can be combined with advanced data analytics and incorporated into current meat inspection practices to deliver the 21st Century Meat Inspector. The feasibility project will focus specifically on post-mortem inspection and dead on arrival detection, within poultry. The project will adopt a benefits realisation approach to determine the requirements for any new technologies and ensure that business benefits are delivered to all stakeholders within the poultry chain. This interdisciplinary project includes expertise in a variety of complimentary inspection technologies (Optical (vis, NIR, IR, Hyperspectral), X-ray and Ultrasonic) and IT-enabled benefits realisation management with the Hartree Centre (STFC), Two Sisters Food Group and CSB as project partners.