Plan Automation Technology Blog

What to Look for in On-Site Emergency X-Ray Inspection Services

Posted by Mat Bedard on Wed, Aug 30, 2017 @ 11:08 AM

X-ray inspection services can provide manufacturers with critical safety inspection systems on short notice.

Whether it’s a bone that manages to remain wedged in a piece of meat, a loose screw that eventually falls off a machine, or bits of plastics that find their way into your batch, any contaminants in your finished product will be a major blow to your brand. The enactment of the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) has led to many industries emphasizing food contamination prevention. Therefore, you should meet the mandatory preventative controls to comply with the FSMA, and X-ray inspection equipment is key to ensure food safety.

X-ray inspection and metal detection technology has improved processors' ability to be able to detect even the smallest foreign objects, avoid waste, and eliminate false rejections. X-ray inspection can help you by detecting glass, metal, stone, plastic, and other materials in your products. Some x-ray inspection systems can detect many different low-density objects that are in your products. On the other hand, some systems are equipped with spectrometric detectors, and they can differentiate between different materials.

When looking for the best on-site X-ray system, there are a couple of things you should check including:

  • Detectability
  • Purpose
  • Affordability

Detectability

Detectability is becoming increasingly important in food processing companies. This is because foreign object contamination can sometimes come from unintentional employee actions. For instance, dropping a pen in the food production section.

Such items are often detected by x-ray systems and this allows for the safe use of tools made from plastic. The use of detectable plastics means that they can easily be detected using an on-site X-ray inspection system and this will protect consumers and minimize the risk of emergency product recall.

For both cost-efficiency and accuracy, it’s important that you use the right x-ray inspection detection equipment for the specific process. This is because some x-ray inspection systems are designed to be more sensitive than may be needed depending on the type of product.

If your current inspection systems lack the kind of detectability characteristics that you need, Plan Automation's emergency x-ray inspection service can provide advanced x-ray inspection capabilities at a moment's notice. Plan Automation has a variety of machines that use either single energy and dual energy x-ray (DEXA) to best fit your needs.

Purpose

The x-ray technology has been used for a long time in food and beverage processing companies. However, modern equipment is continuously benefiting manufacturers, specifically in their ability to examine images and to detect any irregularities.

X-ray inspection systems can generate images when intensity is proportional to density. With the modern algorithms that are used in vision, it’s possible to analyze images at high speeds.

For example, you'll be able to find the contaminants using the emergency x-ray inspection system and also be able to verify their presence or absence, position, size, shape, patterns, and counts.

Aside from protecting your products from contaminants, a top-quality 24/7 emergency x-ray inspection system service will provide tools that also perform gross mass measurement and important quality checks to minimize product giveaway. You can also connect these systems upstream for feedback control, and to also adjust automatically the portion sizes to eliminate future product overfills or underfills.

Other than detecting broken components such as broken biscuits or cookies in a pack, you may need an emergency X-ray inspection system that can ensure that a box of 10 chocolates has a total of 10 pieces and that each piece is in the correct place. This will ensure that all your products are delivered in an orderly and attractive manner, and provide your clients with the perfect and intended experience.

Plan Automation's emergency X-ray inspection services provide tools that can check the integrity of seals on packs to ensure that there is minimal risk of product spoilage, help ensure that some products (such as hamburgers) have a uniform size and shape, and that they have cooked at a similar rate to ensure that your consumers are safe. Detecting contaminants at an early stage is necessary during production. It will help in reducing product wastage, maximize on detection rates, and reduce your operating costs.

Affordability

Many food processors have often associated the complex operations and high costs as the main barriers to owning X-ray systems. However, the technology has now become affordable and easier to use. Eagle PI manufactures affordable X-ray systems that have increased sensitive detectors which lower the X-ray power required. Therefore, their X-ray sources will last longer.

Plan Automation focuses on providing food processors like you with 24/7 onsite product emergency inspection services. Because these systems require trained professionals, Plan Automation also has rental services where you can rent the x-ray devices for a period of one day or several months. They also provide you with experienced professionals that can conduct the emergency X-ray inspection services on your behalf.

How Safe is X Ray Inspection of Food - Plan Automation

Topics: X Ray Inspection of Meat, emergency x ray systems