MADRAS VETERINARY COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY (MEAT SCIENCE)

Genesis

The Department of Meat Science and Technology was created in the year 1958-59, as the first of its kind in India, to promote the principles of hygienic meat production and a modern meats laboratory was established in the year 1972, followed by the Meat Species Identification Laboratory under Indo-U.K. Collaborative Project in 1991, Modular Cold Storage facilities were established in the year 1998 under a Part II Scheme, Meat Products Laboratory in 2004 under a National Agricultural Development Project.
Food Testing laboratory for meat and meat products was established in the year 2017 under the auspices of a Ministry of Food Processing Industries Government of India
Carcass utilisation plant was established in the year 2022 under a National Livestock Mission Project.

Objectives

To impart quality education to undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral students in Meat Science and Technology
To carry out research programmes in Meat Science and Technology and disseminate research outcomes to entrepreneurs and meat processors and impart technical skills to farmers and butchers
To evolve cutting edge technologies in animal by – products

Education

The department offers various undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral courses. The department has been offering M.V.Sc and Ph.D programmes in the discipline of Meat Science and Technology from 1962 and 1985 respectively and a total of one hundred and fifty three (153) and twenty three (23) students have completed their M.V.Sc and Ph.D respectively.
The department also offers a Post graduate diploma course on “Post Harvest Technology and Quality Assurance of Meat and Meat Products” since 2014.
Internship training on Livestock Technology services at Meat Plant is offered for students of various constituent units.

Research

This Department has completed fourteen externally funded research schemes and the different funding agencies include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); World Bank (2 NATP Schemes); Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India (GoI); Government of Tamil Nadu (one Part II scheme and one university plan scheme); and a scheme was funded by a private agency.

Research Projects Completed

S.No	Name of the Scheme	Funding agency	Period	Budget
1	An all India Co-ordinated research project on “Utilization of Slaughterhouse By-products”.	ICAR	1970 - 1973	***
2	Processing of Animal Agricultural Wastes (Animal intestines) into Production of Sportguts, Catguts and Livestock Feed Supplement.	ICAR	1985 - 1989	3.96
3	Meat Species Identification.	ICAR	1991 - 1992	1.1
4	Studies on the Suitability of Different Packaging Materials for Different Meat Foods	ICAR	1990 - 1993	10.98
5	Microbial Quality of Pork and Pork Products	ICAR	1993 -1996	12.69
6	Part-II Scheme on “Preservation of meat in Modular Cold Storage.	Government of Tamil Nadu	1997 -1998	***
7	Carcass Quality and Yield Characteristics of South India Non-descript Buffaloes.	ICAR	1997 -2001	14.94
8	A University Plan Scheme on the “Establishment of Quality Control Laboratory in Meat and Meat Products”	Government of Tamil Nadu	1989 -2002	41.82
9	NATP project on “Quality Assurance and Monitoring of food from Livestock and Poultry”.	World Bank ICAR	2000 - 2004	26.6
10	Effect of Modified Atmosphere Preservation on Meat Quality.	ICAR	2000 - 2004	13.48
11	NATP project on “Processing of Pork, Broiler and Eggs”.	World Bank ICAR	2002 - 2004	18.44
12	Development of emulsion based meat products utilizing buffalo lean meat and its offals	MoFPI, GOI and TANUVAS	2006 -2009	23.87
13	Evaluation of animal by- products like ossein, sinews, bone meal and sludge on broiler performance	M/s Nitta Gelatin India Ltd	2009 -2010	7.04
14	Establishment of Food Testing Laboratory for Meat and Meat Products	MoFPI, GOI	2012 --2016	223.37

On-going Research Projects

“All India Coordinated Research Project on Post Harvest Engineering and Technology" funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.
Self Financing Scheme on “Production and marketing of ready- to- cook and ready- to- eat meat products” funded by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai
Revolving Fund Scheme on “Food Testing Laboratory for Meat and Meat Products” funded by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai.

Infrastructure facilities

Slaughter hall

The slaughter hall is well equipped to undertake hygienic slaughter and dressing of food animals and some of the important equipment available in the unit include

Hoist	Modular chiller and modular freezer
Captive bolt stunners	Cabinet / Commercial Deep freezers
Electrical Stunner	Semi-automated poultry processing line
Brisket cutting saw	Mobile poultry processing plant
Carcass cutting saw	Vacuum packaging machine

Meat Products Laboratory

The meat processing laboratory has all the necessary facilities to prepare meat products such as emulsion based meat products, cured meat products, restructured meat products, enrobed meat products, functional meat products, ethnic indigenous meat products and shelf stable meat products. The important equipment available in the unit include

Meat mincer	Smoking Cabinet
Bowl Chopper	Retort processing unit
Sausage stuffer	Meat slicer
Patty making machine	Blade tenderiser
Ice flaking Machine	Cooking vat and other gadgets for cooking including LPG gas stove, micro wave oven, electric grill, tandoor and barbecue cooking.
Brine Injector	Vacuum Tumbler

Meat Quality Control Laboratory

The meat quality control laboratory has the necessary infrastructure to undertake studies on physico-chemical characteristics of meat including pH, water activity, water holding capacity, extract release volume, tyrosine value, thiobarbituric acid number, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, sarcomere length, fibre diameter, myofibrillar fragmentation index, and the equipment available include

pH meter	Warner Bratzler Shear Force Machine
Water activity meter	Virtis Homogeniser for assessment of myofibrillar fragmentation index
Hunter lab Spectro-colorimeter	Digital Polar planimeter
Texture Analyser	Electrical impedance meter
UV-vis spectrphotomer	Salinometer
Microscope with facilities for micrometry.

Meat Microbiology Laboratory

The meat microbiology laboratory has the necessary infrastructure to study the microbial quality of meat and meat products and the equipment available include

Class II Bio-safety Cabinet	Autoclaves
Stomacher	Hot air oven
Colony counter	Incubator and BOD incubator

Meat Speciation Laboratory

The meat speciation laboratory has equipment suitable for detecting species of origin of meat and the equipment available include

Gel Electrophoresis	Shaker
PCR	Spinwin
Refrigerated Centrifuge

Food Testing Laboratory for Meat and Meat products

The food testing laboratory for meat and meat products has various analytical equipment to assess proxinmate principles and analyse the quality of meat including analysing residues of various kinds including pesticides, mycotoxins, antibiotics, hormones etc.,. The equipment available include

LC MS MS	Vitek 2 Compact
GC MS MS	FTNIR spectrophotometer
ICP OES	Kjeltec 2100 distillation unit
Soxtec 8000 extraction unit

Salient Achievements -Technologies Developed or Commercialized

Electrical Stunner - Rs 42,000/- + GST

The electric stunner has been designed to effect stunning in various species of food animals such as sheep, goats and pigs and birds such as turkeys, emus and ostriches. This technology has been commercialised and more than 30 units have been sold. This technology was awarded the Vaithialingam Rathnasabapathy award for the best Innovation award for the year 2013 awarded by the university.

Mobile Poultry Processing Plant-Rs 3,50,000/- + GST

A mobile poultry processing unit-cum-retail meat stall has been designed to facilitate hygienic slaughter and dressing of poultry, in cities where commercial space is highly prohibitive in cost and availability. This technology bagged the Vaithialingam Rathnasabapathy award for the best Innovation award for the year 2014 awarded by the university.

Mobile Scalding Tank-Rs 35,000/- + GST

The mobile scalding tank has been designed with an inlet and outlet pipe; is insulated and provided with a thermostat to maintain the water at deired temperature for scalding birds and pigs.
The mobile scalding tank has been granted a patent (Patent number 342259) to the patentee (Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University) for an invention entitled” A Mobile Scalding Tank for Scalding Birds” for the term of 20 years from the 8th day of April 2011. The inventors are Dr. Robinson J. J. Abraham, Dr. V. Appa Rao and Dr. R. Narendra Babu, of this department.

Pig Restrainer - Rs 2,75, 000/- + GST

The pig restrainer is very effective in restraining pigs for stunning and it is both labour saving and fulfils animal welfare requirements. The university awarded the Vaithialingam Rathnasabapathy award for the best Innovation award for the year 2019 awarded.

Ready to Eat Meat products

Shelf stable meat products such as Retort Processed Chicken Meat Products and Extruded Meat Products are other products developed by the department, and they have been duly approved by the technology release committee.

Utilisation of Abattoir By-products

Pet Treat / Pet Food, Japanese Quail Feed, Collagen, Chondroitin Sulphate, Keratin Bio-polymer, Collagen Chondroitin sulphate scaffolds have been prepared from various abattoir by –products in an attempt to salvage value from them.

Services

The department assists livestock farmers in marketing their food animals by undertaking custom slaughter.
The department also markets meat and ready to eat meat products to public regularly and motivates existing and prospective entrepreneurs to venture into meat processing.
The department is involved in providing consultancy services to existing and prospective entrepreneurs in meat processing in establishment of slaughterhouse, meat processing facilities, cold stores and retail outlets by providing necessary designs and Detailed Project Report
Analysis of meat and meat products such as assessment of physico- chemical, microbial and sensory qualities, species identification, detection of chemical residues, are undertaken for a charge and the fees for the tests are furnished below:

S. No.	Test	Proposed rate (Rs.) per sample
		Students	Commercial
1.	Microbial quality of meat and meat products (Total viable count, anaerobic count, specific food borne pathogens)	1000	3000
	Total viable count	250	500
	Total psychrophilic count	250	1000
	Anaerobic count	250	1000
	Specific food pathogen	250	1500
2.	Sensory evaluation of meat and meat products (taste panel, shear force value and texture profile)	1000	3000
	Sensory evaluation by taste panel	500	1500
	Shear force value by Warner Bratzler	150	500
	Texture profile for meat and meat products	350	1000
3.	Proximate Composition (moisture, fat, protein, ash) of meat and meat products	400	1200
	Moisture of meat and meat products	80	100
	Fat of meat and meat products	100	500
	Protein of meat and meat products	100	500
	Ash of meat and meat products	100	200
4.	Physico- Chemical quality of meat and meat products (pH, Water holding capacity, Thiobarbituric acid number, Tyrosine value, colour (instrumental), odour )	500	1500
	pH	50	100
	Water holding capacity	50	200
	Thiobarbituric acid number	100	350
	Tyrosine value	100	350
	Colour (instrumental)	100	500
	Odour	100	250
5.	Shelf life studies of meat and meat products (seven days)	2000	5000
6.	Species identification of meat by PCR technique
	Known/ suspected Specific species	2000	6000
	Unknown species	3000	8000
7.	Heavy metals/ minerals (per element) by ICP- OES	300.00	600.00
8.	Pesticides/ antibiotics by LCMSMS	2000.00	4000.00
9.	Pesticides by GCMSMS	2000.00	4000.00
10.	Microbial analysis in Vitek Compact system*	500.00	1000.00

Faculty

Dr. R.Narendra Babu, PhD, Professor and Head | narendrababu.r@tanuvas.ac.in| Mobile: +91-9444210404
Dr. S.Ezhilvelan, PhD, Assistant Professor | ezhilvelan.s@tanuvas.ac.in | Mobile: +91 – 9380811841
Dr. R.Ramani,PhD, Assistant Professor |ramani.r@tanuvas.ac.in| | Mobile: +91 – 98415 16415
Dr. A.Vanathi, MVSc, Assistant Professor |vanathi.a@tanuvas.ac.in| | Mobile: +91- 87544 60341

The Professor and Head,
Department Of Livestock Products Technology (Meat Science),
Madras Veterinary College, Chennai – 600 007.
Phone: +91-44-25364000
E-mail: hodmstmvc@tanuvas.org.in