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Regulations for consumable products cover a lot of ground – and a lot of product attributes. In addition to finding and rejecting foreign bodies that are food safety hazards, manufacturers need to adhere to requirements related to fill level, counts and measurements to stay compliant with labeling laws. X-ray inspection in the food industry provides simultaneous quality checks that help to keep you in line with those requirements, in addition to staying compliant with stringent standards for food safety. It’s multitasking for a total picture of product integrity.
Finding contaminants and keeping them out of the food supply is essential in food regulation compliance. So, too, is the discovery of regular product inconsistencies. To be sure, overfill and miscounted quantities result in giveaway that impacts the bottom line. But under-fills and under-counts also pose problems in products that are not what they are labeled to be and are subject to compliance issues, recalls and even fines and litigation.
In the U.S., the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA), administered for foods and pharmaceutical products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requires consumer commodities to be properly labeled to disclose the content and identity of the product. Meat and poultry labeling under the purview of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has its own requirements and standards. Globally, many, if not most, countries have packaging requirements or laws that prevent companies from selling underweight packages.
Manufacturers that want to stay compliant with regulations covering portioning and labeling can take advantage of x-ray food inspection systems that perform a host of measuring and mass check tasks. For example, Eagle Product Inspection helps manufacturers meet requirements for package weight compliance with machines that provide inline checkweighing functionality using mass measurement. In a nutshell, x-ray inspection systems determine the mass of the item inspected and converts it into a weight value for an accurate total package weight, helping users comply with local or national weight and measure regulations. X-ray systems can verify fill levels and determine correct counts. Unlike conventional checkweighers, x-ray machines with mass measurement capability aren’t impacted by weigh time requirements or common environmental factors which can affect conventional gravimetric checkweighing systems. It is always important to consult your local weights and measures regulations to understand exactly what will be required to be compliant.
Read our white paper on how x-ray systems offer checkweighing that helps companies stay consistent and compliant.
Learn more about the Tall PRO X x-ray inspection that can determine fill levels in high-speed can, jar, bottle and composite lines.
Learn more about how to determine fill level inspection in products packaged in pouches, large bags, cartons, thermoform trays and multipack containers with the Pack 550 PRO.
About the author:
Kyle Thomas, Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Manager at Eagle Product Inspection
