On the road with research lab

A high-tech sensory lab which will help feed consumer preferences for meat and meat products from around the UK directly into state of the art livestock breeding projects was revealed yesterday by Scotland’s rural college, the SRUC.

The mobile unit is the brainchild of Professor Mike Coffey, team leader for animal and veterinary sciences at the college. The facility, mounted on an articulated lorry, will be showcased this week at the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (AGRI-EPI) Hub at Harper Adams University in Shropshire.

“Our overall aim is to improve the quality of the meat we consume,” said Coffey who said that rather than taking consumers into the lab to assess issues, the lab would now be taken to the consumers at events and shopping locations.

“Learning the taste pref-

0 The mobile lab will take consumer research on the road erences of the public – people of different ages, from different places and different backgrounds – gives us valuable insight and will help us to improve the genetics of our farm animals, ensuring the consumer gets the products they want.”

He said members of the public would visit the lab – thought to be the first mobile unit of its kind – to taste different meats and food products and indicate preferences via electronic touch screens.

The lab will be equipped with state-of-the-art imaging technologies and meat quality equipment.

Coffey said that the information gathered would be passed on to livestock scientists at the SRUC who would use the results to guide their genetic improvement research – which would then be used to influence breeding programmes.

The three-year programme is supported and funded by the Centre of Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) and Innovate UK. CIEL’S chief executive, Lyndsay Chapman, said such innovations were vital.

“Breeding for specific traits like taste and tenderness of meat can takes years,” she said. “Facilities like this will help determine breeding decisions and further improve the great products we produce in the UK.”