Pommes frites mit STEIN Curly fries with STONE in den Fokus der Lebensmittelsicherheit rückt. Die Konsumenten müssen sicher sein, dass jede erdenk-liche Vorkehrung getroffen wird, um einen hohe Produktqualität in den Supermärkten zu gewährleis-ten. Darüber hinaus ist der Schaden für die Marke des Herstellers nur schwer zu verkraften. Innova-tive Röntgentechnologie wie MDX hilft dabei, diese Missstände auszuräumen. Kyle Thomas, Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Manager, Eagle Product Inspection Muschelfleisch mit SCHALENTEILEN Clam meat with SHELL FRAGMENTS Standard Röntgendarstellung Standard X-ray Image MDX Darstellung MDX Image Standard Röntgendarstellung Standard X-ray Image MDX Darstellung MDX Image 48 2014 SAFETY CONCEPTS SICHERHEITSKONZEPTE Continued from page 46 potato products which will be sold to the consu-mer. This is just one illustration of the limitations of standard X-ray inspection technology for checking modern foodstuffs for contaminants. Difficult to detect Conventional X-ray inspection technology is ex-cellent at detecting certain types of contaminants in food products. Stainless steel, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glass, calcified bone, mineral stone, and high density plastics and rubber can all be identified in a food product and rejected accord-ingly. However, conventional X-ray technology has difficulties detecting inorganic contaminants such as glass shards, low density plastics and rubber, or stones and rocks, when present within a complex density product i.e. with high variations in density, such as a pre-packed salad. Typically, the image produced by conventional X-ray technology in such products is crowded and indecipherable. Clearly, this is a problem for food manufacturers, even more so in an age when consumers are in-creasingly conscious of food standards issues. Brand reputations are at stake and no manufac-turer wants to endure the embarrassment, not to mention the short- and long-term costs, of a product recall due to contamination of food by objects that should have been removed before reaching the supermarket shelves. High and low channels It is for this reason, that Eagle Product Inspection has harnessed its Material Discrimination X-ray technology, or MDX, for use by food manufac-turers. MDX is an enhanced X-ray technology that can discriminate between high and low X-ray channels. When X-rays are directed onto a food product, a proportion of the X-ray energy is ab-sorbed by the product, depending on the product‘s composition, while the rest of the ener-gy passes through to a detector. Each ingredient in a product has its own atomic number, and the higher the atomic number, the greater proportion of X-ray energy is absorbed. Carbon, with an atomic number of six, therefore absorbs much less X-ray energy than lead, which has an atomic number of 82. MDX has a detector array that gives values at two different energies and a relative ratio of energy absorbed can be calculated to determine a material‘s composition. Foreign body detection therefore becomes based on chemical composition i.e. atomic number rather than just density variation or product thickness. MDX can detect flat glass and stone in mixed nuts, for example, which conventional X-ray finds very challenging. Nor is it just the food within the packaging that can affect detection. Innovative packaging designs such as fold-out cardboard sandwich packaging and corrugated card encase-ments also provide challenges in foreign body detection for standard X-ray inspection technology – challenges that MDX is able to overcome. The development of MDX for product inspection has followed the demands of food manufact-urers that need a reliable solution to detect and remove contaminants irrelevant of product type or packaging format. In the case of MDX, this tech-nology has also been used in the security industry for some years to help find contraband, weapons and stowaways in cargo containers. Food safety ensured Customers are already benefiting from MDX tech-nology. Potatoes are big business in the North-western United States, producing more than half of the total US potato acreage. One manufacturer in the region has been able to grow its business by using MDX to detect low-density rocks and golf balls during production, and thereby guaran-tee the quality of its potato products. Meanwhile, in Poland a cereal manufacturer has deployed eight Eagle X-ray inspection systems with MDX technology after receiving complaints about glass being found in its products. The com-plaints have ceased in the wake of MDX being introduced. There are also potential future uses for MDX beyond that of the inspection of complex density food products. For instance, the technology might also be used to measure ingredients to simplify the classification of products for food labelling. What is certain is that with modern lifestyles calling for ever greater convenience in food con-sumption (and indeed you might argue while golf courses are being situated close to potato fields), the issues of contamination and complexity in the food production chain are not going to go away. The consumer needs to feel confident that every effort is being made to ensure that only high qua-lity produce makes it into the supermarket, and the damage to a brand through failing to meet these exacting standards is something that food manufacturers can ill afford. Ground-breaking X-ray technologies such as MDX can make that failure a thing of the past. Kyle Thomas, Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Manager, Eagle Product Inspection Fotos: Eagle Product Inspection
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