Detectable components are great tools for reducing your contamination risk in your food production process.

Although these components are specially designed to be easily detectable by specific product inspection tools such as x-ray or metal detection equipment, just how detectable are these components, really?

Well, the answer to this depends on a few factors, such as the type of detection equipment being used, the food products/packaging you’re making, and the detectable components themselves.

Limitations When Using Metal Detection Systems

One might think that to make all components detectable in a production line that has metal detection equipment, all components just need to be made of metal.

In theory, this would work. In practice, however, there are a couple of problems that may come up.

First, you may not always be able to use components made entirely of metal for every food production process. Metal components are often very expensive and heavy, making them less economical to use. Additionally, some food products may react negatively to exposure to metal.

Second, there are always limits to just how small an object that even the best metal detection equipment on the market can detect. Extremely small shavings or bits of metal might go undetected, even when made to be very detectable.

Making Components More Detectable by Metal Detectors

While there are no 100% guarantees that all contaminants will be caught every time, detectable components for metal detection equipment increase their detectability in a few ways.

First, those components that can be made of metal at an economical cost are. This is often the easiest option for maximizing detectability of components in your production process.

Second, those components that cannot be made of metal typically incorporate a metallic magnetic trace element that runs throughout the entirety of each component. This way, even a piece of a component made of plastic can be seen by a metal detector.

Finally, for those components that cannot have a magnetic trace element incorporated into their chemical structure, metallic strips are bound to the component. If the component falls into the production line, the metal detector can spot the magnetic strip.

Limitation of Detectability for X-Ray Inspection Devices

X-ray inspection technology has come a long way in recent years. However, there are still some common limitations for detectability in x-ray inspection processes.

For example, extremely low-density objects, such as thin sheets of aluminum, may go undetected by x-ray systems.

Also, some x-ray inspection systems might have a difficult time finding contaminants in packaged products that have highly complicated, random shapes. An example of this would be finding a stray object in a box of meat with bones. The density differences between the meat and the bones make it difficult to detect lower density contaminants.

However, newer x-ray technologies such as MDX inspection technologies that use both high and low frequency x-rays to scan products are increasing the detectability of contaminants that were previously difficult or impossible to spot.

As with metal detection equipment, pieces of a component that are extremely small may make it past even the most sensitive x-ray systems.

Making Components More Detectable in X-Ray Systems

Many x-ray systems operate in a manner that allows them to detect nearly any contaminants of sufficient density.

Detectable components take advantage of this fact by being made of dense materials or by adding a fluorescent tracing element to the material , which increase their visibility under an x-ray system.

While the above measures for metal and x-ray detectable components greatly reduce the risk of your own production components contaminating food products that you send out to consumers, there will always be at least a small risk of contamination. However, it is better to have a 95% chance of detecting component contamination in your products than a 0% chance.

Check out the detectable components page to learn more about these handy production safety aids.