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Queensland Tests RFID to Track Kangaroo Meat
Each tag will be encoded with a unique ID number and a Safe Food Queensland accreditation number, in order to ensure each animal meets all industry and regulatory needs, such as the harvester's details and the length of time from the point of harvesting to refrigeration. Harvesters will be able to encode the tags with additional information, such as the species of kangaroo, its sex, and a time, date and GPS location indicating when and where the animal was killed.
"It can also include the statutory declaration that the kangaroo was healthy at the time of harvest and was harvested humanely," Swadling notes, "which is another requirement of the EU market."
All kangaroos must be killed with a head shot, and each carcass is inspected before it is sent to the field depot for refrigeration. "It is a very comprehensive tag," Swadling states. "We are sure it will work. We just have to prove the expected benefits."
An economist will analyze the project and the system, and that information will be incorporated into a report on the project and its successes and failures. "An economist will examine the benefits, such as time savings and efficiencies, so meat processors will know exactly what benefits it will generate in the field," Swadling says. "We expect to see many benefits, including accuracy of information, speed of information transfer from tags to a database, speed of data entry and ease of use. It's about nailing down the robustness, efficiency and ease of use of RFID."
This will be the first time radio frequency identification has been used to track kangaroos or other wild game in Australia, though both Australian and New Zealand government agencies have employed the technology to track domesticated sheep and cattle. New Zealand's National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) project aims to tag all cattle and deer with low-frequency tags, to improve the traceability of exported animals (see New Zealand's National Cattle ID Project Gets $23 Million). Meanwhile, the state government of Victoria trialed RFID across six farms, to investigate the economic benefits of tagging sheep (see Australian Sheep Farmers Explore RFID's Benefits).
BCDS Identification Technologies, an RFID systems integrator based in New South Wales, has been chosen to conduct the trial, and the company has selected technology developer Magellan Technology to provide RFID tags and readers for the project.
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"It can also include the statutory declaration that the kangaroo was healthy at the time of harvest and was harvested humanely," Swadling notes, "which is another requirement of the EU market."
All kangaroos must be killed with a head shot, and each carcass is inspected before it is sent to the field depot for refrigeration. "It is a very comprehensive tag," Swadling states. "We are sure it will work. We just have to prove the expected benefits."
An economist will analyze the project and the system, and that information will be incorporated into a report on the project and its successes and failures. "An economist will examine the benefits, such as time savings and efficiencies, so meat processors will know exactly what benefits it will generate in the field," Swadling says. "We expect to see many benefits, including accuracy of information, speed of information transfer from tags to a database, speed of data entry and ease of use. It's about nailing down the robustness, efficiency and ease of use of RFID."
This will be the first time radio frequency identification has been used to track kangaroos or other wild game in Australia, though both Australian and New Zealand government agencies have employed the technology to track domesticated sheep and cattle. New Zealand's National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) project aims to tag all cattle and deer with low-frequency tags, to improve the traceability of exported animals (see New Zealand's National Cattle ID Project Gets $23 Million). Meanwhile, the state government of Victoria trialed RFID across six farms, to investigate the economic benefits of tagging sheep (see Australian Sheep Farmers Explore RFID's Benefits).
BCDS Identification Technologies, an RFID systems integrator based in New South Wales, has been chosen to conduct the trial, and the company has selected technology developer Magellan Technology to provide RFID tags and readers for the project.
