A preliminary in vivo study on the potential application of a novel method of e-tracking in the poultry food chain and its potential impact on animal welfare

Abstract

The feasibility of using DataMatrix (DM) barcodes laser printed onto the beaks of poultry as a possible method of identification and therefore traceability of the individual was examined in this study, including a preliminary live trial on broiler chicks in a commercial environment. In vitro trials were initially conducted to select the optimal laser type and the optimal laser settings for this particular application. Frozen mature chicken head samples were sourced from commercial partners and DM barcodes were printed on the beaks of these samples and read using a high specification camera based 1-Dimensional/2-Dimensional DataMan 7500 barcode reader. A number of laser types and settings were assessed through a detailed Predetermined Readability Screening Procedure principally designed to examine the ability of the printed DM barcode to withstand physical abrasion such as that which may occur in a commercial environment. Following this selection process a preliminary live trial of this technology was instigated in a commercial broiler house to examine not only the effects of the growth of the broilers on the clarity and readability of the DM barcode, but also the ability of the printed DM barcodes to resist the physical and chemical environment of a commercial setting. The results show a four day window during which the barcode readability remains at a high level. Thereafter the readability deteriorates rapidly, due to the rapid growth and healing of the beak of broiler chicks. However, with high readability rates, even for such a short timeframe, this technology could well be used as a technique for movement control for live poultry, for example, from the producer to the processor, thereby preventing any fraud at these vulnerable points in the poultry food chain, where there is a transfer of ownership. The effects of such a treatment on the behaviour and weight gain of the broiler chicks was also observed, because in an industry where numbers are large and margins very small, it is important that any additional input to the system would not have any detrimental effect on final carcase weight and quality.