CVS (Carcass Vision System)

[smcgrath76]

Just wondering what is floating out there around the industry about the CVS camera for grading?
There seems to be a renewed push coming from the industry to implement this technology in the plants. A lot of Canadian producer money went into the development of this product and currently it is only being used in the United States where the USDA has approved it for grade augmentation. It can also be combined with colour technology to determine tenderness in a better fashion than marbling can.
There is a large political battle going on at the moment and there are some people issues as well, although you still need a qualified person to verify and override the system on occasion.
Another thing to consider is that instead of just a roller grade on the animal, there is now a digital record and picture of the calf. This might make getting information back on grades easier, although currently the plants own the data.

[ValueChainFX]

Nice to see you and the start of your discussion. The Cargill plant in High River has a full working model of the vision grading system. I have seen the system in action and reviewed the results. There is still a lot of room for improvement in this system and has many basic challenges to over come. Keep in mind that this technology is really not new, it is just an improvement on a system that has been worked on in Australia. I believe the concept is wonderful and that with memory storage on the computer systems we are closer then ever to making it work. The system being used in Cargill is a full color system and combines the full side picture with the picture of a full color LD muscle shot (Rib Eye) the muscle shot brings the collagen (marble) out in the picture very well. It is the hope, that one day the VGS in combination with a tenderness probe may give a tenderness grade as well!

However, as far as getting data back from the big guys I do not think I would hold my breath that may actually be something that would help the industry and the producer recoup invested dollars.

I also believe that since the initial concept of Vision Grading appeared, technology has advanced to the point that the concept could be combined with more real methods to give the CONSUMMER a more realistic identifier for them to make their choices and purchase on.

Since the beef industry is being so closed on this and many other issues that would help both the producer and the consumer. Much of the knowledge has moved into a more focused group in the specialty meat industry. This group is not hindered near as much by the politics and the big guys in the industry when trying to develop their sector!

[ValueChainFX]

Talk about public money going into the CSV - what disgusts me is your right, and now private enterprise owns it.