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1. What are the main inspection challenges for the poultry industry?
When we think about x-ray poultry inspection applications, there are three main questions that we ask ourselves; the first question is ‘What type of poultry product is it?’ For example, is it a cooked product or a raw product? The second question is ‘How is that product going to be presented to the machine?’ Is the product loose on the belt or is it packaged in some way?’ The third question is ‘What are we actually inspecting for?’ Invariably this tends to be the identification of a contaminant of some description whether that’s glass, stone, a variety of different types of metal or bone.
By far the biggest challenge in x-ray poultry inspection applications is the bone detection as poultry bones tend to be very small and underdeveloped. A wide range of advanced x-ray solutions for the poultry industry are available which take into account all these variables, ensuring products are processed to the highest standards and safe for consumption.
2. What are the main reasons to implement a pipeline x-ray system?
There are two main reasons why an x-ray system is necessary in the poultry industry where raw material is being pumped through a pipe: the first reason is to ensure that the raw material is safe for consumption, which means it’s free from any foreign contaminants. A pipeline x-ray system will identify and remove contaminants, such as bone, glass, and a variety of different types of metal. The second reason is that by identifying and removing contaminants, inspection-ray inspection for pumped products helps to protect equipment further downstream from potential damage caused by contaminants.
3. What type of poultry factories should install a trimming system?
Poultry trimming systems tend to be installed in poultry factories that are producing chicken fillets or chicken breasts with quite a high throughput. This is where the actual chicken breast is removed from the carcass, trimmed to a particular size, trimmed to remove any bone, and then placed on a belt to go through the machine for analysis. Companies usually have a high throughput, but they don’t want any degradation in terms of the quality of inspection. The performance of the machine is in part dictated by how the product is presented and it’s important to think about how any product that’s rejected can be returned back to the in-feed area so it can be re-worked. Integrated x-ray poultry inspection solutions are available which include the in-feed and out-feed systems, rejection, and the mechanism required to return any rejected product back to the start of the production line.
4. How can you overcome product safety challenges to meet supermarket expectations?
Consumer safety is paramount to all supermarkets and indeed many supermarkets have their own standards which they expect their suppliers to adhere to in order to ensure that the products on their shelves are safe for consumption. A range of x-ray systems are available to suit a wide variety of poultry applications from raw chicken breasts all the way through to cooked chicken nuggets. Read our blog 3 Benefits X-ray Inspection Offers to Poultry Processors. Different applications present different challenges, and solutions are available that are specifically designed to overcome these.
