USDA studies real-time detection of nervous tissue in cattle

USDA and Iowa State University scientists recently conducted a research on a fluorescence-based method of detecting central nervous system tissues on beef cattle in real time.

According to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the procedure utilizes the fact that nervous system tissues contain high concentrations of lipofuscin, which fluoresces when it is exposed to light.

The USDA research detected even small amounts of bovine spinal cord in the presence of raw bovine skeletal muscle, fat and vertebrae by analyzing the fluorescence with a spectrometer.