Meat Imaging Mobile Camera: A Robust commercial grading tool ideal for the full range of Marble Score Variation

From the first time I took my carcass captures, I knew I needed to bring this technology to the United States. With the rise in popularity and demand of Above Prime meat, we were beginning to face a crisis. The Wagyu meat industry was entering a new phase, with a market yearning for the taste and quality that Wagyu has to offer, but one that did not understand how to interpret their above prime meat quality and understandably higher prices at market. We breeders struggled to demonstrate the advantages of carcasses that yielded higher marbling scores and knew there had to be a better way than the aging grading system that was developed almost a century ago in the United States. With this new technology, the MIJ Mobile Carcass Camera, we could not just assess Marble Score Variation, but also full carcass quality while helping guide genetics.

Meat Imaging Japan (MIJ) is recognized the world over for their advanced digital analysis systems and cutting-edge technology for measuring carcass merit. And through stringent testing, Dr Kuchida found that the MIJ Cameras not only mirrored the results collected traditionally but provided more comprehensive and accurate measurements of the carcass. The first partnership of MIJ was with Australia to expand their testing, while also helping a country that was seeking to improve their above prime grading system. Now Australia has outfitted multiple processing plants with the technology.

After learning all this and observing the grading process myself in Japan, I immediately started my campaign to introduce the MIJ grading system and get it certified by the US Department of Agriculture. Years later I can proudly say that not only have many US breeders and processors adopted this grading system, but many other countries are also jumping on board using this state-of-the-art technology in their own processing systems. Together we are poised on a precipice that will launch us into a significantly more effective future where we have the power to improve all our programs.

Meat Imaging is far from just another application; it has the technology to bring your program to the next level, unite the Wagyu breed, and one day the entire beef industry as we know it, with consistent, objective analysis precisely creating a uniform grading system.

Over the years, through meticulous research and rigorous testing Japan has crafted an invaluable tool that now comes with upgrades to make the process even easier. MIJ Mobile has added a Beak Attachment enabling you to get MIJ-30 quality images for less than a tenth of the cost, and a Fast Capture that makes it perfect for capturing images on a fast-moving line, easily handling 200 carcasses per hour. With the new advances in software, no cell service is required to capture and transmit data. Only WiFi is needed; and even if no WiFi is available, you can capture and store your data to upload at your convenience.

As we enter this new era, using our carcass data to better our meat and herds. Many processors use a Carcass Information Tracking Barcode. The MIJ Mobile system also allows you to create your own barcodes. MIUSA can show you how to create these barcodes to track your data. This helps you pair your images with your bloodlines, to track trends both positive and negative and adjust the quality of carcasses you produce.

The MIJ Carcass Camera data provides the user with 2 pages of information with each carcass capture. The knowledge that users gain from their carcasses is the key to better production and higher return. It is allowing breeders to fine tune their genetics in record time by helping track scientifically proven heritable carcass traits.

Meat Imaging’s goals for each user are three-fold. First, it is making grading and defining the merits of your carcass accessible to every level breeder, whether you are a small family run farm or an industrial business. Secondly, it’s correcting the delay of having to wait for your testing results until after your carcass has been processed. MIJ Mobile Camera allows for Real-Time carcass data that can immediately give you accurate carcass insight, thereby improving your genetics and maximizing the performance of your herd. And last but certainly not least, to help bring awareness to the importance of Marbling Fineness. Dr Kuchida, one of the main Japanese researchers for MIJ Imaging, has proven that not only is marbling fineness a heritable trait, but it also directly correlates to tenderness, taste, palatability, and visual value!

MIUSA’s continuing research at leading universities throughout the United States over the last 5 years have observed a direct correlation between Marbling Fineness scores and the tenderness results of the Warner-Bratzler Shear Force Analysis and Fatty Acid Profile results. These findings combined with high marbling Wagyu IMF’s were so compelling that last year the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) was present to observe the most recent testing.

MIUSA now using MIJ technology has the means to make the Wagyu industry a global competitive powerhouse. The MIJ Mobile Camera system is making it possible for more beef producers and processors to capture real-time objective data across a wider range of processing facilities. We no longer need to be in the dark waiting for results to come in but can have the results within seconds of taking one image.

We owe it to the breeders and the expectant public, anxiously waiting to learn and experience better quality meat, to take this singular, yet momentous step into the future, and leave behind the antiquated systems of the past. It’s time to get paid for the grade.