The meat industry and new technologies?

Is there room for innovation in the meat industry?

Due to advancing technological development in industry, automation and robotization of processes is already the order of the day in almost every manufacturing plant. It does not bypass the food industry either. Modern technological solutions and vision systems are also widely used in the meat industry.

1. meat industry automation

The meat industry by its very nature is very demanding in terms of quality and sanitary requirements. Manufacturers and distributors must take care of every detail in the production process to ensure that products meet appropriate quality standards and are completely safe for consumers. No less important than sanitary standards are also economic aspects.

2. what can robots do?

The grinding and mincing of meat products is also being automated in processing plants. For this purpose, multifunction robots are used, whose task is, in addition, mixing, for example. They are used not only for various forms of meat raw materials, but also for products such as vegetables and cheese.

The use of industrial robots equipped with vision systems not only increases the efficiency of processes that would be handled by production workers, but also improves their safety. In addition, the machines are characterized by a consistently high precision of operation and repeatability of movements, impossible for humans.

3. quality first

In order to meet the pace of recent trend changes in the food industry, production processes must be as flexible and adaptable as possible. This is a challenge that requires solutions that increase productivity and reduce production costs, while maintaining high product quality.

The quality of meat consists of many factors. One of them is its composition, which affects both consumer safety and characteristics such as juiciness, taste and odor of the raw meat. Traditional quality assessment techniques, unfortunately, allow only selective inspection of selected batches of meat.

However, increasing consumer expectations for high quality standards and sanitary requirements are driving manufacturers to conduct continuous quality control on the production line. The use of in-plant vision technology helps meet these demands.

4.Vision system in the meat industry

Cameras in the meat production process allow non-invasive measurement and evaluation of the quality of individual batches of meat. Features usually determined subjectively by the human eye can be checked automatically by the camera system, in addition, without having to stop production. They are able to identify the color, shape and size of meat, as well as determine the level of marbling and the amount of fat in the meat. And it is mainly these characteristics that have the greatest influence on the consumer’s choice when shopping. During the processing process, vision systems are able to inspect the alignment of given batches on the belt, and even identify a given part of the meat and recognize its shape.

In addition, taking into account that in the meat industry labeling of goods is a requirement of food law, the vision system will also be perfect for checking marking and labeling during packaging of the finished product.

5. economic issues

The economic approach to the manufacture of processed meat products drives producers to constantly reduce production costs. Since the cost of purchasing raw material alone is higher in the meat industry than in other sectors of the meat industry, producers are forced to reduce unnecessary waste as much as possible and preserve valuable batches of product.

The use of vision systems in industrial practice significantly speeds up the quality control process and optimizes production. They provide a repeatable and precise method of analysis and can control the entire process, from meat portioning to packaging. In addition, they can work in non-human-friendly conditions (e.g., on meat cutting lines) with all sanitary requirements, which are a priority in food processing plants. For failing to comply with them, a manufacturer can face severe consequences, such as heavy fines and the withdrawal of a defective batch from the store, which significantly affects its reputation.