Image analysis and microscopy : a useful combination

The TSE Roadmap published in 2005 (DG for Health and Consumer Protection, 2005) suggests that short and medium term (2005-2009) amendments to control BSE policy should include “a relaxation of certain measures of the current total feed ban when certain conditions are met”. The same document noted “the starting point when revising the current feed ban provisions should be risk-based but at the same time taking into account the control tools in place to evaluate and ensure the proper implementation of this feed ban”. The clear implication is that adequate analytical methods to detect constituents of animal origin in feedstuffs are required. The official analytical method for the detection of constituents of animal origin in feedstuffs is the microscopic examination technique as described in Commission Directive 2003/126/EC of 23 December 2003 [OJ L 339, 24.12.2003, 78]. Although the microscopic method is usually able to distinguish fish from land animal material, it is often unable to distinguish between different terrestrial animals. Fulfillments of the requirements of Regulation 1774/2002/EC laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption, clearly implies that it must be possible to identify the origin animal materials, at higher taxonomic levels than in the past. Thus improvements in all methods of detecting constituents of animal origin are required, including the microscopic method. This article will examine the problem of meat and bone meal in animal feeds, and the use of microscopic methods in association with computer image analysis to identify the source species of these feedstuff contaminants. Image processing, integrated with morphometric measurements can provide accurate and reliable results and can be a very useful aid to the analyst in the characterization, analysis and control of feedstuffs.