The MACSYS project was initiated on January 1^st 2014 and terminates December 31^st 2015. It is a collaborative project between 4 research institutions, 4 Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and 1 end-user from six European countries (Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and The Netherlands).

Project partners

The research partners in the project are Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Leatherhead Food Research, UK and Max Rübner-Institute, Germany. These partners are experts in the field of histochemical and immunohistochemical methods for detection of muscle structure degradation, quantification of biochemical traits such as protein, fat and moisture content and spectroscopic methods suitable for rapid quality classification. 

The RTD partners provide scientific input to the industry partners which in turn enables the technological suppliers (SoftCrits and Carometec A/S) to develop the final outcomes of MACSYS.

Three outcomes are expected:

• Selection and standardization of a histochemical methods to quantify level of degradation of muscle tissue
• An automated image analysis system (SoftCrits) for quantification of muscle structure degradation
• A fast track method for quality classification of comminuted poultry meat (Carometec A/S)

The image analysis system will benefit food laboratories and inspection services by providing an accurate and objective evaluation of the level of muscle structure degradation after mechanical separation of poultry meat.

Development of a fast track method for quality classification will benefit meat processing equipment manufacturers such as LIMA and Marel providing a rapid method for quality control of their produced raw material. Industrial users of comminuted meat such as Robert Damkjær Ltd have a strong need for effective instruments to assess the quality and sort the meat raw materials and therefore will also benefit from the availability of a fast track method for incoming and final quality control.