Feature

Expert Column Series - Mettler-Toledo

No "One Size Fits All"

By Daniela Verhaeg, Marketing Manager, Mettler-Toledo Safeline X-ray

In today's competitive global market place, safeguarding the reputation of one's brand is of utmost importance, especially in the food and pharmaceutical industry - triggering customer complaints and costly recalls, contaminated goods in these industries can and will ultimately destroy the brand. As such, food and pharmaceutical manufacturers should look for inspection technology systems best suited to the nature and packaging of their goods that will optimise detection rates on their production lines.

Selecting a suitable product inspection technology can be daunting, given the large range of available systems. There may be no wide-reaching legislation which effectively obliges manufacturers to install product inspection systems such as x-ray inspection, but they may have to prove in a legal context that they did their level best to identify and eliminate risks for the consumer. Faced with no definitive legislation, manufacturers need to comply with industry standards and codes of practice that have been advocated by several regulatory bodies such as the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).

These concern, for instance the emission of harmful x-rays, the Critical Control Point (CCP) which is the physical positioning of the x-ray machine, and last but not least minimising physical contamination with foreign bodies. In terms of radiation, x-ray inspection systems have to be built in conformity with safety standards such as the Ionising Radiation Regulation 1999 and the American Standard 1020.40 CFR, thereby guaranteeing a safe working environment for operators. They furthermore have to be fully Conformité Européenne (CE) certified, and comply with local rules and regulations. Beyond set industrial standards and codes of practice, there are also retailer and consumer brand codes in practice that manufacturers have to adhere to in order to satisfy supplier agreements. An ever-increasing number of supermarket chains, such as Walmart and Marks & Spencer are strongly advocating for manufacturers to integrate x-ray inspection systems across the supply chain.

In the food industry, effective contaminant detection poses a particular challenge, given the varying densities and different structures of different foods and a huge range of different types of packaging. X-ray inspection offers excellent metal detection for ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless steel and is also highly efficient at detecting glass, stone, calcified bone, high-density plastics and rubber compounds. It is also proficient in inspecting foreign bodies in glass jars and bottles, metal cans and products in foil or metallised film packaging, such as doypacks. Whether the contaminants are within the body of the packaging or trapped in the lid, they can be detected by highly sensitive x-ray technologies. Different types of packaging and products imply the need for a broad range of x-ray systems with a choice of x-ray beams. However, there are systems available with single and multiple x-ray beams positioned vertically, horizontally or a combination of both. Vertical beams are ideal for the inspection of sealed packs, wet or dry free-flowing products as well as pumped products such as semi-solids and fluids. Whereas, horizontal beam systems are commonly used for the inspection of packaged products and mainly tall, rigid containers such as metal cans, glass containers tetra packs and doypacks. As such, Mettler-Toledo Safeline X-ray developed the X36 Series, which currently is the most advanced and flexible x-ray system on the market tailored to inspect packaged food and pharmaceutical products. Integrating a unique detector which is five times more sensitive to x-rays than previous technologies, the X36 Series is capable of operating with a reduced x-ray power generator and sustaining outstanding contamination detection performance.

Today's x-ray inspection systems are true multi-taskers, striving to meet manufacturers' demands and requirements for efficient, speedy and secure in-line product inspection. State-of-the art x-ray technologies are also capable of performing thorough in-line quality checks, embracing measuring mass, counting components, identifying missing or broken products, monitoring fill levels and inspecting seal integrity. This ensures that manufacturers not only protect their brand and product, but future proof their technology investment for new product ranges, and improve exportation opportunities through compliance with local and international safety guidelines.

In the next series, we will discuss how x-ray inspection systems positively affect manufacturing productivity.

About the Author:

Daniela Verhaeg is the Marketing Manager at Mettler-Toledo Safeline X-ray, based in the UK. She currently specialises in x-ray technology for product inspection. With five year's experience working in the field for the food and pharmaceutical industries, she has extensive knowledge of x-ray equipment for the packaging and inspection sectors