Why Invest In X-Ray Inspection Systems?
By Melissa Lind, contributing writer
The modern consumer is expecting to purchase high-quality food. For food companies, having the appropriate technology for inspecting products is a key step to ensure quality and safety.
Foreign-body detection systems are necessary for consumer protection, ensuring regulatory compliance, and also for financial reasons. Preventing losses from costly recalls and wasted product are important, but your company also needs to preserve its brand loyalty. Food inspection systems come in several varieties — checkweighers, metal detectors, visual inspection, and, X-Ray systems to name a few. While any investment in technology can be a major concern, technology for safety and quality assurance is one you can’t afford to pinch pennies on.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is requiring food-making companies to have a food-safety plan to control risks within facilities and supply chains. When your company is considering foreign-body inspection systems, you may find that X-Ray technology is the best bet for a number of reasons.
Foreign-Body Identification Audits — metal is still the most-likely culprit of contamination via foreign body. However, if your company’s analyses have determined that other materials — glass, high-density plastics, stones, and others — are likely to contaminate products, X-Ray inspection technology may be needed.
Packaging And Density Problems — X-Ray inspection systems can detect foreign-body contaminants in metallic or foil packaging. Additionally, the same applies if your company’s products must be processed at certain temperatures or are non-solids with high salt content.
Speed Issues — food manufacturers running many types of different products may opt for multiple, independent systems. However, this can slow down the food-processing lines. X-Ray inspection can process multiple product types or multiple lines running at different speeds at the same time. Product profile, speed, and spacing are usually not an issue.
Retailer And Consumer Demand — obviously no part of the supply chain wants food contaminated by any foreign body. Food makers looking to expand business to large food retailers are finding that these companies are demanding products be inspected by X-Ray systems.
Overall Equipment Effectiveness — X-Ray detection systems are flexible with multi-faceted operation and can detect most types of contaminants in a range of sizes and shapes. These systems are also capable of identifying missing components, checkweighing, checking fill levels, and detecting inadequate seals.