The present invention relates to a device for the ventral and dorsal cutting of a pork carcass or the carcass of an already sacrificed animal with a similar corporeal structure, in a completely simultaneous manner. The device is preferably formed by two robots that are placed facing each other, with the particularity that the cut along the dorsal side includes the corner of the spine and vertebrae, while the ventral cut cuts the spine in two parts.

This device described in the invention comprises means that allow for the cutting in two practically equal halves of the body of the pig or similar animal, following the spine thereof, while the intervertebral space is cleaned of meat, in such a way that said system can perform a cut for the ventral side of the spine and a second cut for the dorsal side separating the meat from the space between the vertebrae.

A system and method for creating an oxidation reduction potential (ORP) in water and for reducing the surface tension of the water for the microbiological decontamination of food animal carcasses. A method is also described for the microbiological decontamination of beef trimmings.

A portable game hoist assembly includes a plurality of modular sections that is each removably coupled together to define a stand that extends vertically from a support surface. The stand has a height at least 8.0 feet to facilitate a deer or other similarly sized animal to be suspended beneath the stand for butchering. A winch is rotatably coupled to a respective one of the modular sections and a pulley is coupled to a respective one of the modular sections. The pulley is spaced upwardly from the support surface when the stand is assembled. A cable is wrapped around the winch and the cable extends around the pulley. A distal end of the cable can lift the game when the winch is rotated in the first direction. A lighting unit is coupled to the modular sections to illuminate the game for butchering.

A method for processing carcasses of livestock, includes the processing steps of: positioning a hanging livestock carcass; making an incision along the spine of the positioned hanging livestock carcass; loosening the meat from opposite sides of the feather bones of the spine; and splitting the spine of the carcass. A device for processing carcasses of livestock is arranged for enabling the process steps.

An apparatus for detecting surface characteristics on food objects conveyed by a conveyor, has a first imaging device for capturing two-dimensional image data (2D) and a second imaging device for capturing three-dimensional image data (3D) of a food object. At least one image processing unit is configured to utilize either one of the 2D or the 3D image data in determining whether a potential defect is present on the surface of the food object. In case such a potential defect property is found, the image processing unit determines a surface position of the potential defect, and utilizes the remaining one of the 2D or the 3D image data in determining whether an actual defect is present on the surface of the food object at the indicated surface position. Further, the apparatus has an output unit for outputting defect related data in case both of the 2D and the 3D image data indicate that an actual defect is present on the surface of the food object at the indicated surface position.

A separating device for separating first and second bones or cartilage parts comprises a first structure with a first elongated member and a stationary engaging member at one end of the first elongated member; a second structure with a second elongated member and a separation member at one end of the second elongated member; a moving device for moving the second structure relative to the stationary engaging member from a contracted position to a closed position. An angular position of the first and the second structures are adjusted, so the subsequent movement of the separation member towards the closing position intersects a separation area between the first and second bones or cartilage parts causing an immediate separation between the first and second bones or cartilage parts.

A power operated rotary knife including an annular rotary knife blade supported for rotation in a blade housing. The rotary knife blade including a body and a blade section extending from the body. The body includes an outer wall including an arcuate surface having an upper region extending from a first upper end portion to a second intermediate portion and a lower region extending from the second intermediate portion to a third lower end portion. A plurality of gear teeth extend downwardly from the upper end of the body, each of the plurality of gear teeth including an outer peripheral face forming a portion of the upper region of the arcuate surface of the outer wall. The body outer wall includes a bearing surface having a lower bearing face in the lower region of the arcuate surface and an upper bearing face in the upper region of the arcuate surface.

A method for evaluating (50) the health state of an anatomical element of an animal in a slaughtering plant provided with an image acquisition device. The evaluation method comprises the steps of: verifying the presence of the anatomical element; acquiring the image of the anatomical element; processing (S4) the image of the anatomical element through Deep Learning techniques, generating a lesion image representing lesioned portions of the anatomical element, and a number of processed images, each representing a corresponding non-lesioned anatomical area of the animal; for each of the lesioned portions and for each of the non-lesioned anatomical areas, determining a corresponding quantity indicative of the probability that said lesioned portion corresponds to said non-lesioned anatomical area; determining a score indicative of the health state of the anatomical element, depending on the determined quantities.

A power operated rotary knife including an annular rotary knife blade supported for rotation in a blade housing. The rotary knife blade including a body and a blade section extending from the body. The body includes an outer wall including an arcuate surface having an upper region extending from a first upper end portion to a second intermediate portion and a lower region extending from the second intermediate portion to a third lower end portion. A plurality of gear teeth extend downwardly from the upper end of the body, each of the plurality of gear teeth including an outer peripheral face forming a portion of the upper region of the arcuate surface of the outer wall. The body outer wall includes a bearing surface having a lower bearing face in the lower region of the arcuate surface and an upper bearing face in the upper region of the arcuate surface.

Meat products can be classified based on image data. Training image data is received that includes image data about first meat products. Labels associated with the first meat products are received, where each of the labels includes a type of one of the first meat products. A trained classification model is developed based on the training image data and the received labels. Image data representative of a second meat product is received. The image data is inputted into the trained classification model, where the trained classification model is configured to classify a type of the second meat product based on the image data. The type of the second meat product is received from the trained classification model.