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As food waste continues to be a top concern, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that a third of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste. Food and beverage manufacturers and further processors continue to look for ways to reduce waste while improving yield and product quality and consistency. One way to cut down on food waste at the manufacturer level is to better discern acceptable from unacceptable product through the use of advanced inspection systems.
Advanced x-ray systems can better detect physical contaminants, even in difficult-to-read products, to reduce the amount of false rejects during food production and processing. False rejects happen on the individual or batch level when “good” product is rejected if deemed to be contaminated or unusable. If a manufacturer isn’t confident or can’t confirm via accurate inspection methods that the item or batch is safe, they won’t take the risk of keeping that product as it is.
In addition to correctly identifying foreign material contaminants, Eagle inspection systems can simultaneously conduct important quality checks, like weight, fill level and component count, and determine if foreign materials have affected the proper package seal. By using a system like Eagle’s new EPX100-S that performs both safety and quality inspection, a manufacturer can accurately inspect the product the first time and prevent loss and giveaway.
“Our inspection technologies continue to evolve to lower the rate of false rejects while improving the probability of detection (POD) at critical control points on the line. Through better x-ray technologies and powerful software starting at the earliest parts of production and continuing through final packaging, manufacturers get a truer picture of product safety and quality with less product loss,” says Christy Draus, marketing manager for Eagle Product inspection.
A key to reducing false rejects that lead to loss and giveaway is using Eagle’s reliable, robust x-ray systems designed to find contaminants and quality-related inconsistencies in a variety of products. The recently-introduced EPX100-S, for example, can be used to detect foreign substances like glass, metal and stone while also performing checks for mass measurement, packaging integrity, component count in a wide variety of food and beverage products, using the latest control and image processing software.
In addition to this new machine, Eagle Product Inspection continues to hone its other capabilities to greatly reduce or nearly eliminate false rejects with machines that can more accurately detect a broader range of foreign bodies.“Eagle technologies such as MDX dual energy and SimulTask™ PRO image processing software have been shown to significantly reduce false reject rates that can lead to loss of both products and profits,” Draus reports. With the latest processing algorithms, SimulTask™ PRO offers the highest greyscale on the market with up to 65,535 greyscale values.