X-ray detection for dairy products

Thermo Goring-Kerr, the German X-ray equipment specialist has developed a range of X-ray detection equipment specifically for the dairy industry.

The equipment has been designed to work with dairy products that are wrapped or sealed with aluminium foil - a material that often proves problematic to X-ray detection systems and is widely used in the dairy industry for products such as yoghurt, milk and cheese. The equipment detects foreign bodies of almost every material, particularly those associated with the packaging process such as high-grade stainless steel, glass or stone. If, for example, a pot of yoghurt is identified as having a foreign body it can immediately be rejected in batches of up to 12 pots at the speed of 16 metres per minute.

This X-ray machinery has recently been installed in co-operation with VAW Aluminium at the Muller Dairy, UK, a subsidiary of German dairy company Müller. The quality control section of the production line has integrated two Thermo Gorring X-ray detection units into its new packaging lines in Market Drayton.

Thermo Goring-Kerr claims that the X-ray equipment is more cost efficient than the previous generation of machines and that because of its improved detection properties it will add to product quality and safety.