Thermo expands range of contamination service
food manufacturers in the UK deal with contaminated product
batches, is moving into the packaging sector.
The purpose-designed facility, called the Product Inspection Service has been designed to adhere to stringent of hygiene standards, allowing the inspection of a wide diversity of products including food and beverage.
Product contamination, whether accidental or deliberate, is a major issue in modern food production. Maintaining consumer confidence is vital for the long-term survival of a brand, and product recalls, litigation and legislative action can cost a company millions.
The spectre of terrorism has of course heightened these concerns. The US secretary of health and human services said in November that he was surprised that terrorists had not yet targeted the food supply.
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," said Tommy Thompson.
Thermo's Product Inspection Service has been designed to combat this threat and alleviate the concerns of manufacturers, retailers and consumers. The service features a variety of Thermo's Goring Kerr metal detectors and x-ray units; access to these resources allows manufacturers to benefit from advanced technology without the expense of purchasing the actual systems.
Thermo's advanced X-ray inspection systems and metal detectors can detect ferrous and non-ferrous metals, stainless steel, glass, stone, bone, PVC and product variations within a large range of containers including metal, glass, card, foil and plastic. The machinery is ultra-sensitive, identifying foreign bodies as small as 0.5mm in size.
As well as providing this vital contaminant inspection service, Thermo's Product Inspection Service is also able to screen for damaged or missing product, such as air voids and product mass, underfill and overfill. Using the state-of-the-art Ramsey checkweighing units, this service offers advanced machinery that can ultimately improve a company's production efficiency.
But now Thermo is looking at the possibilities in packaging inspection. Perhaps not as much a threat as product contamination, defective packaging can still however destroy the overall image of the product and lead to price discounting.
Visual inspection and manual checking takes place and the Product Inspection Service repackages any items with faulty packaging. Another area of expertise is recoding packages displaying data errors with a range of Thermo's sophisticated Allen coders.
This is also an important area for manufacturers, as this can sometimes result in emergency product withdrawals.
"By inspecting the suspected batches thoroughly, product loss is drastically reduced, not only helping with the bottom line, but also reducing the problems incurred when a member of the public discovers a contaminated item," said Darren Eaton, Product Inspection Services manager.
"In the long term, we can closely examine the occurrences of contamination or product defect to get to the source of the problem enabling the customer to take preventative action. Often this means clamping down on suppliers, or adjusting manufacturing lines to make the production process safer and more efficient."
US-based Thermo has an annual turnover of more than $2 billion and employs approximately 10,000 people in 30 countries.
