RADIOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES FOR AUTOMATION OF BONE DETECTION IN POULTRY MEAT

THIS PROPOSAL DELINEATES A SET OF ACTIVITIES THAT WILL PER- MIT MNEMONICS TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF CERTAIN RADIOLOGIC AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FOR DETECTING BONE EMBEDDED IN POULTRY MEAT. THIS PROPOSED PROJECT (PHASE I) ADDRESSES A VARIETY OF TECH-NOLOGIES AND WILL INCLUDE INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITIES USING DIFFERENT RADIOGRAPHIC MODALITIES. THESE ACTIVITIES WILL PER- MNEMONICS TO DETERMINE THE SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OF A SELECTED GROUP OF RADIOLOGIC TECHNIQUES, AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF THESE TECHNIQUES BEING ABLE TO BE REDUCED TO A PRACTICAL "SIGNALING" SYSTEM CAPABLE OF DETECTING SMALL PIECES OF BONETHAT CREATE POTENTIAL HAZARDS TO THE CONSUMER. MNEMONICS' EFFORT WILL BE DIRECTED TOWARD DETECTION AND SUBSEQUENT RE- JECTION OF BONE-CONTAINING CHICKEN FORM IMMEDIATE PROCESSINGAND SUBSEQUENT PACKAGING OF MEAT CONTAMINATED WITH BONE. MNEMONICS WILL CONSIDER THE DETECTION OF BONE IN THE FOLLOW-ING CONDITIONS: 1) LARGE PIECES OF CHICKEN, PLACED WITH RAN-DOM OVERLAP SO AS TO CREATE DENSE OVERLAP REGIONS; 2) LARGE PIECES OF CHICKEN WITH NO OVERLAP, I.E. SINGULATED PIECES OFCHICKEN; AND 3) SMALL SINGULATED CUBES OF CHICKEN, I.E., NUTGET-LIKE. IN EACH OF THESE CONDITIONS, ATTENTION WILL BE GIVEN TO ALL PERTINENT VARIETIES OF CHICKEN. BOTH WHITE ANDDARK MEAT WILL BE CONSIDERED WITHIN EACH VARIETY.