São Paulo – The Southeast Livestock unit of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) filed an international patent request, in Canada and the United States, for a technology which identifies, at a young age, animals with potential to develop soft meat. The work focuses on the Nelore race, for which one of the main challenges is meat tenderness, according to Embrapa.
The identification is made by way of molecular markers, which are stretches of DNA responsible for certain characteristics. The technology was developed in partnership with the Federal University of São Carlos (Ufscar) and the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp, under the Bifequali research network.
The patent deposit was made in Brazil in September 2010, with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). After the deposit, the technology undergoes testing, on which its approval depends. In the meantime, it is cleared for commercialization. Negotiations are underway with commercial enterprise for licensing the method and a molecular marker kit.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
