Food X-Ray Inspection Equipment: What You Should Know

By Bob Ries, Lead Product Manager, Metal Detection and X-Ray Inspection, Thermo Fisher Scientific

The objective of this white paper is to provide 10 top X-ray facts to help food manufacturers understand the attributes and benefits of this technology before making a purchasing decision and installing a system.

Overview
In medical or airport baggage screening applications, X-ray systems produce density images (generated by ionizing radiation) that are analyzed by people for irregularities. The scanning and display techniques are different from food X-ray but the goal is the same--find things that are not as expected.

Deploying these technologies for food applications is more complex. The small size and anomaly type being detected is more challenging and the rapid speed in which the detection needs to take place means a computer, not a person, must make the decision. In fact, in many cases, the real challenge isn’t finding the contaminant; it is ignoring the product, packaging or environment. False detections caused by improper use or specification can add up to big costs and high frustrations.