NZ's Alliance Group uses AI tech for meat quality insights

Alliance Group farmer-shareholders can now access real-time artificial intelligence-powered insights into the eating quality of their lamb and beef using Meat Eating Quality (MEQ) technology.

Probes installed across Alliance’s plant network use machine learning and AI technology to analyse intramuscular fat (IMF) in lamb and marbling in beef — key indicators of tenderness, juiciness and flavour.

Insights from the MEQ probes are designed to provide farmers with objective feedback about the quality of their animals via a dashboard.

For lamb, the technology can identify a ‘sweet spot’ by combining IMF levels with ViaScan lean meat yield and carcass weight data. This sweet spot is said to represent the ideal balance of tenderness, juiciness and nutritious fats like omega fatty acids.

“IMF is influenced by genetics, animal health, feed and on-farm management systems. By focusing on natural IMF levels, lean meat yield, and the presence of nutritious polyunsaturated fats, we’re supporting our farmers to produce meat that stands out for its tenderness, juiciness and flavour,” said Willie Wiese, chief executive of Alliance.

Alliance farmer shareholders with Platinum and Gold supplier status can access the MEQ dashboard and receive tailored results via the Alliance farmer portal. Farmers with Platinum status supply 100% of all stock to Alliance while those farmers with Gold status supply 100% of one species.

“We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with Alliance and play a part in connecting advanced technology with on-farm decision-making,” said MEQ CEO Remo Carbone.

By the end of 2024, Alliance will have regional benchmarking data, which the company’s livestock representatives can share with farmers to help them create more value on their farms.

Standard quality metrics are also available on processing and chiller assessment sheets, giving all Alliance farmers a clear view of their livestock’s eating quality performance.

“The data will give farmers the ability to understand which levers they can use to build more value behind the farm gate. We are proud to provide our farmers with these advanced tools to improve on-farm practices, maximise returns and meet evolving consumer expectations worldwide,” Wiese said.

Image credit: iStock.com/Lisovskaya