Plan Automation Technology Blog

How X-Ray Inspection Works to Improve Product Safety

Posted by Mat Bedard on Wed, Oct 1, 2014 @ 08:10 AM
x ray inspection product safety - plan automation

X-ray inspection technologies, which provide some of the most cost effective, thorough means for food and pharmaceutical inspection within production industries, use focused beams, image analysis and grey-scale scanning to detect irregularities within products.

These solutions provide such lucrative benefits for manufacturers across industries, as they are capable of accurately detecting a myriad of contaminants, missing components or irregular product levels that other detection techniques simply miss. If x-ray inspection technologies are nothing else, they’re versatile, and can be used in practically any production industry to identify and sort poor quality products.

If any of the following product irregularities or contaminants are a regular concern in your business, there’s a good chance x-ray inspection techniques can provide the right solutions for you:

  • Improper product weight, volume and size
  • Absent products or other missing packaging components, such as inserts, instructions and health information
  • Irregular fill levels and mass
  • Broken product seals and packaging
  • Organic contaminants such as bones
  • Foreign bodies, including metal fragments and shards, stones. glass, etc.
  • Air bubbles and pocketing in dairy and meat products

What makes x-ray inspection systems even more appealing to manufacturers in various industries is their accessibility at any point in a production line. Whether your critical control points (CCP) demand that you complete product inspection with raw materials, before packaging or during end-of-line processes, x-ray systems can meet those needs with equal effectiveness as they would at any other point.

The Fundamentals of X-Ray           

X-ray inspection technologies are capable of such advanced detection due largely to the density analysis processes by which they operate. X-ray inspection equipment uses small amounts of food-safe electromagnetic radiation to measure changes or irregularities within products. Due to electromagnetism’s relatively short wavelengths, these rays can pass through many food and dietary materials when beamed through products.

Detection of contaminants and foreign bodies in productions utilizing x-ray inspection is determined by the absorption of these electromagnetic rays as they pass through products. As a result of their short wavelengths, x-rays do not pass through all materials in the same way; the denser an object, the more electromagnetic waves it will absorb (and the darker an image it will create).

Taking these scanned rays, x-ray inspection systems will create grey-scale imagery with pinpoint accuracy, no matter whether a product is raw, packaged or even sealed as a bulk product.

Using innovative software tools that come installed in today’s x-ray inspection solutions, manufacturers can pre-calibrate their systems to fit their exact (in this case, ideal) product. With this information stored, the software will create detailed grey-scale images of the equipment’s scans, and notify manufacturers of both isolated and repeat abnormalities in products.

Automated rejection capabilities in x-ray systems sort out contaminated, poor quality products instantaneously, removing products from the product line for either disposal, re-work or recycling.

The high transparency and accuracy with which these systems can detect irregularities in food and pharmaceutical products have made them the ideal safety control choice for manufacturers nationwide. Whether your industry deals with raw meat products or dry goods distribution, x-ray inspection stands to drastically improve the efficiency and reliability of your quality control processes.

X-ray inspection systems are the perfect solutions for producers in (and not limited to) the following industries:

  • Meat (beef, poultry, pork, etc.) processing
  • Dairy
  • Pharmaceutical and healthcare goods
  • Dry goods, such as rice and seasonings
  • Snack foods
  • Dairy, including both milk and cheese
  • Liquid products

Whether you require x-ray inspection systems to prevent dangerous metals from shipping within your products, or to merely assure fill levels in your liquid products, these technologies can meet and exceed in virtually all of your quality control needs.

What X-Ray Means for Your Product Safety

All of x-ray inspection’s advanced technical capabilities, from highly accurate beam scanning and real-time image analysis, add up to one real and measurable benefit for producers in various industries: unparalleled safety, and the savings potential that comes with it.

Manufacturers with innovative x-ray inspection systems, such as those built by Eagle PI, can expect to drastically improve the detection, sorting and remediation of contaminated products within their facilities. This generates real financial gains down the line by improving production efficiency, and virtually eliminating the risks of large-scale product recall.

Selling and distributed contaminated (or otherwise irregular) products to consumer is more than just an embarrassing mistake on a manufacturer’s part; it can irreversibly damage brand image, and cost that producer thousands in lost sales and waning public appeal. The best way to limit these risks is by integrating innovative, accurate inspection technologies in your production facilities. 

To learn more about how x-ray inspection improves product safety please don't hesitate to contact Plan Automation.

How Safe is X Ray Inspection of Food - Plan Automation

Topics: Product Safety, X-Ray Inspection, X Ray Inspection for Food