In today’s market, it has become paramount to comply with the rules of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and ensure the safety of baked and snack food products. Therefore, choosing the appropriate technology for the job is crucial.

FREMONT, CA: Food safety is a matter of significant concern for all the food manufacturers. It is important to source the correct inspection and detection technology for every application to make sure that products are free of contamination.

On looking at the usage of metal detectors for baked items, the biggest challenge that one faces is the ‘product effect.’ This happens when a product posses a conductive property, which affects the magnetic field produced by the metal detector. This can be detected in high salt, high moisture environments, like warm bread coming out of the oven. The warm bread combined with the high salt content impacts the ability of the metal detector to differentiate between actual non-ferrous metal contaminants and the wrong signal given by the combination of typical attributes. Further, it is more complicated by the changing densities, air bubbles, and other physical features of every loaf. In these scenarios, X-ray equipment generated the desired results.

For products like pies and cakes, the preferred inspection machinery for these products relies on the packaging materials used. As most of the pies are packaged in aluminum foil pans, metal detectors are utilized for evaluating ingredients and dough. However, after placing the pie into the pan or folding carton, there is the requirement of X-ray inspection.

Typically, metal detectors function perfectly well with the frozen baked foods that no longer possess the product effect that ‘just out of the oven’ types do. The real trick is to make sure that the freezer is proficient and is holding the product at an appropriate temperature. If a product is not completely frozen, its unfrozen center may seem similar to a piece of metal to the detector.

To conclude, manufacturers should deploy the right technology for a particular type of food product. Food safety should be their top priority. 

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