IBM Tracks Pork Chops From Pig to Plate

摘要

Meat suppliers can track a single pig all the way from live animal to pork chop, thanks to new technology from IBM that may limit or prevent disease outbreaks. Pigs are identified with a barcoded ear tag. That tag helps track various pig parts as they pass through the slaughterhouse and on to the processing plant, the distribution center and finally the package in a grocer's case. Some trial systems are being installed in slaughterhouses and retail stores in the Chinese province of Shandong. China's interest stems from an outbreak of blue-ear pig disease from 2006 to 2007. The illness doesn't affect humans, but at the time, it led to a pork shortage and sent prices soaring. There was worry that the disease could spread to other pigs around the globe.