Headwall granted USDA license for spectral poultry inspection

May 1, 2014

Spectral imaging solutions company Headwall Photonics completed an exclusive licensing agreement with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for patents related to the in-line inspection of poultry.

Gail Overton

The USDA has granted Headwall Photonics a license for patents related to in-line hyperspectral poultry inspection.

Spectral imaging solutions company Headwall Photonics (Fitchburg, MA) completed an exclusive licensing agreement with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for patents related to the in-line inspection of poultry. The patent licensing agreement builds on Headwall's USDA Commercial Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) that collaboratively focused research activities on the development and introduction of in-line hyperspectral inspection sensors using spectral imaging technology for food inspection.

When coupled with Headwall's patented aberration-corrected hyperspectral sensors, the USDA patents enable disease detection at high-speed line rates to comply with food safety regulations. The combination of Headwall;s sensors and USDA patented, disease detection algorithms not only support but enable the USDA’S proposed rule to increase poultry production line rates for more rapid inspection systems at poultry slaughter plants. The proposed USDA rule will increase line speeds from 35 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute using a single USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspector on the slaughter line.

"Food safety and food quality is a very strategic market sector for the commercial deployment of Headwall's hyperspectral imaging technology," said Headwall CEO David Bannon. "Through close collaboration with USDA researchers, we have developed customized imaging sensors to meet the high-speed, high-performance demands of harsh, critical food processing environments. Bannon also noted that poultry processors in the U.S. alone produce more than nine billion broiler chickens per year. "This is a very large market with unique technology needs."

In commenting on the patent licensing agreement, Moon Kim, a leading researcher with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) indicated that "These licensed patents represent many years of food safety and food quality research and have been tested with over 100,000 poultry carcasses. And, we have many years of successful experience working closely with Headwall sensor technology and their engineering team. We will continue to collaborate with Headwall in commercializing this next generation of food inspection technology."

SOURCE: Headwall Photonics; http://www.headwallphotonics.com/press-releases/press-releases-blog/bid/344140/Headwall-Expands-Food-Processing-Capabilities-With-Exclusive-License-For-USDA-Poultry-Inspection-Patents

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.