Estimating bone maturity in beef carcasses through differential fluorescence

Abstract

At present, carcass grading is dependent to a great degree on age of the animal. However, in México standards are vague on this matter, because the only requirement is stating if the animal is younger or older than 30 mo. This vagueness is the source of a need of developing objective systems for determining physiological maturity. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was estimating with great accuracy ossification of the cartilage in the 12th rib, as an indicator of bone ossification in bovine carcasses, by means of an electronic pattern obtained through artificial vision. In the model developed to this end, better use of fluorescence generated by the cartilage is made, in comparison to both bone and fat, and as a result the cartilage area stands out clearly, and by developing image processing algorithms for analyzing it, ossification percentage can be estimated with accuracy, and consequently, carcass physiological age. The artificial vision system developed in the present study allows evaluating bone maturity in a carcass in less than one second and data obtained is used for establishing carcass electronic grading in less than five seconds.