NextGuard™ X-Ray Detection Systems

X-ray inspection of packaged and bulk food products is proven to be extremely safe. There is no documented evidence of adverse health effects of X-rays on equipment operators, the food products that travel through the equipment, and ultimately, the pet consuming those products.

Since wet or moist pet foods have a high product effect, X-ray inspection is the best technology to detect contaminants such as metal, glass, stone, and other dense foreign objects.

There are several points in the pet food production process that benefit from food safety inspection (metal detectors, X-ray inspection) and checkweighing technology. Here are some examples:

- Incoming ingredients. Large pet food producers may require that their vendors meet specific HACCP objectives and provide proof of inspection. Even with those methodologies in place, some will also inspect incoming ingredients. Typical incoming inspection consists of drop through and bulk flow metal detectors.

- After mixing/rendering. Processing equipment such as an industrial blender or mixer will age over time and potentially introduce small particles or shavings of metal into the product being processed. It is important to position inspection equipment after this process equipment to catch any contaminants as early in production as possible, so it doesn't affect final product quality as well as damage equipment further downstream. The inspection equipment type will depend on the product type and whether its formulation creates a “product effect”. Wet or moist pet food products are more suited toward X-ray equipment, while metal detectors perform well with dry or kibble type pet food products.

- After filling/packing. The recommended inspection equipment type is dependent on the packaging material or combination of materials that have been selected for this product. Metal components such as aluminum foil trays, metal cans, aluminum foil bags or metalized firm structures are much more suited to X-ray inspection. Flexible materials without a metal component, paperboard folding cartons, bags or pouches work very well with either metal detectors or X-ray inspection systems. At this stage, checkweighers are frequently used in combination with a metal detector or X-ray inspection system to ensure product weight matches information printed on the product label.

- After case packing. After case packing is another good inspection point as this is the last stop before the finished products leave the facility. The recommended inspection equipment type is dependent on the packaging material of the individual product. This is typically done via X-ray inspection. In addition to contaminant detection, the X-ray system's ability to detect missing pieces will help ensure that the specified count has been loaded into the case. In certain situations, especially when X-ray inspection is not included at the end of the line, checkweighers are placed here to ensure that the proper number of packages are contained inside the case.

“Product effect” occurs when a product has a conductive property which affects the magnetic field generated by the food metal detector. This is typically found in high salt, high moisture product environments. For example, wet cat food will show significantly more product effect due to its high moisture and salt content. This negatively impacts the metal detector's ability to distinguish between actual non-ferrous metal contaminants and the false signal given by the combination of typical product attributes. In these situations, industrial X-ray inspection equipment will produce significantly better results since product effect is not a factor.

Checkweighers do not detect physical contaminants but they can be combined with food metal detectors and X-ray inspection systems that do detect contaminants. Food metal detection systems provide reliable, cost-effective protection from even the smallest metal contaminants found anywhere in a food production process. Food X-ray inspection systems provide protection from metal, glass, stone and other dense foreign objects for almost any type of packaged, bulk, or piped product.

Food manufacturers can find metallic and non-metallic foreign objects and eliminate “wet” product effects common with metal detectors with the Thermo Scientific NextGuard X-ray Detection Systems (https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/NEXTGUARDPRO). Designed for a wide variety of food applications, NextGuard systems offer enhanced capabilities to inspect packaged products for missing pieces or components, under and over-fills, and other quality problems.