March 25, 2014

Viscon to introduce Vinovo for enhanced egg hygiene
 

Viscon Hatchery Automation introduces the Vinovo Select Line, which maximises hygiene and accuracy during live embryo detection, and during egg vaccination and transfer.

This new product line will be marketed by a new company of the Viscon Group named Vinovo. Vinovo will focus on new technologies and production processes that will improve the health and welfare of chicks starting from the earliest stage in the hatchery. The product line will also minimise antibiotic use.

Egg handling in the transfer area of a hatchery is a risky process as it may lead to product damage and cross contamination of pathogens. This is mainly due to contaminated eggs which can break or explode during take-out, injection and transfer. In many hatcheries where in ovo vaccination is implemented these pathogen-loaded eggs are transferred to the hatcher baskets. This causes chicks to hatch in a hazardous environment, which can result in bacterial infections and increases in first-week mortalities.

The Vinovo Select Line, which can process up to 70,000 eggs per hour, consists of three modules: Live Embryo Detection, Select Inject and Select Transfer.

The Live Embryo Detection system accurately indicates every egg with a living embryo by using a patented heart beat sensor. The eggs without a living embryo are classified as infertile, early dead, or late dead embryos, whereas most traditional systems can only identify fertility, and estimate early dead eggs by means of candling technology. Based on this information, only eggs with living embryos are selectively handled during the in ovo vaccination process and transferred to the hatcher baskets, leaving the unwanted eggs untouched in the setter tray for further processing in a separate waste room. This prevents breaking or exploding of contaminated eggs and creates a much higher level of biosecurity in the transfer area.

The next step in the Select Line is in ovo vaccination by the Select Inject module. This machine enhances the accuracy of injection and delivery of the correct vaccine dose in the proper egg compartment by re-positioning only "the living eggs" in perfect perpendicular position under the injection tooling. This also reduces the risk of damage to eggs and embryos in case eggs are positioned obliquely in the setter tray. Automatic sanitation of the tooling after each injection and automatic cleaning programs, pre- and post production, are used to ensure the hygiene of the machine. The Select Inject module comes with a thorough biological and mechanical support program to ensure optimum performance in the hatchery.  

Directly after injection the Select Transfer module transfers only the selected eggs to the hatcher baskets by use of a patented gripper instead of traditional vacuum naps. This prevents negative pressure inside the eggs and further reduces the risk of cross contamination.