Economic feasibility analysis for an automated on-line poultry inspection technology

On-line carcass inspection of chickens in the United States is currently do ne using visual (organoleptic) methods. Inspectors from the USDA Food Safet y and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspect the viscera and carcass and, for ol der birds, the heads using a sequence of observations and palpations at a p ostmortem inspection station. The streamlined inspection system (SIS) and:t he new line speed inspection system (NELS) are the most prevalent visual in spection methods. The former has a line speed of 70 birds/min with two insp ectors per line, and the latter has a line speed of 91 birds/min requiring three inspectors per line. Both inspection methods are labor intensive and prone to human error. In addition, the speed of the slaughter line is dicta ted by the number of birds per minute that can be inspected by FSIS inspect ors. Ninety-one birds/min is currently the maximum visual inspection Line s peed allowed under current Federal regulations. This study evaluates the ec onomic benefits of using automated inspection in place of visual inspection from the perspective of both the slaughter plant and FSIS. The results ind icate that FSIS and slaughter plants would gain economic benefits by using automated inspection in place of visual inspection. The economic benefits t o FSIS would accrue from labor savings, whereas the economic benefits to sl aughter plants would accrue primarily from increased throughput from faster inspection line speeds.