Bioeconomy Science Institute: Clarospec® - AI meat quality solution for processing plant

Opportunity for 

• Industry partners an intellectual property licensing opportunity to take Clarospec® to market.  

Opportunity description

Industry challenge:

Globally consumers are demanding greater quality and nutrition from protein. This is driven by the need for healthier diets, food safety and traceability. Traditionally, meat quality is determined subjectively through manual human inspection. This has a range of challenges including: 

• High costs.
• Time.
• Human fatigue.
• Operator subjectivity.
• Inconsistency. 

Furthermore, determination of meat quality can also include time consuming and costly wet chemistry analysis.  

Clarospec® is a state of the art non-invasive technology solution that is currently used for the prediction of meat quality attributes, such as inter-muscular fat (IMF), for both red meat and fish. The technology provides objective assessment results and is used for meat grading and to enable more reliable feedback on meat quality to breeders and producers for on-farm decision making.  

Current opportunity:

The Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI) is commercialising Clarospec®. We are seeking industry partnerships and are offering an intellectual property license to take this technology to market.  

The current status of Clarospec®: 

• A system prototype has been developed which includes imaging and sensor technologies combined with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.   
• There is extensive data on red meat quality attributes collected over many years which enables robust machine learning.  
• Proven meat quality assessment trials have been undertaken.
• Clarospec® machines have been deployed in three meat processing plants to date. 

Industry partners will be able to leverage on significant historical investment in the technology and build on the successes achieved to date. This provides the opportunity to leapfrog into the market.  

Opportunity background:

The BSI (AgResearch) has deep expertise in meat quality attributes developed over many years. The Clarospec® solution was developed as a result of the challenges faced by meat processing plants with objective meat quality assessment. 

The use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) in food processing offers significant advantages for companies. In particular:  

• Artificial intelligence, including computer vision and data analytics, is being employed in plants to improve efficiency, quality, and safety in food manufacturing processes.
• AI systems can monitor production lines in real-time and detect anomalies, thereby reducing downtime and ensuring consistent product quality.

Mordor intelligence reports that “surging investments in computer vision, robotics, and predictive analytics help processors “offset labour shortages, comply with strict safety norms, and cut waste”. The Centre for Meat Innovation and Technology in Canada has reported the rise in the use of AI by meat processing plants: “in the fast-paced world of meat processing, where precision and efficiency are vital, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer”.   

We have key advantages in terms of our deep expertise and a comprehensive database on meat quality attributes. In addition, our competitive advantage lies in our capabilities and the non-invasive system.  

Potential other applications:

Future applications of this technology include co-developing attributes that further meet consumer needs.  

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