Advanced Detection Technology Follows Food Safety Throughout the Plant

“The big challenge for food producers has been capturing truly low-density foreign bodies,” says Andreas Lood, sales and business development for Food Radar Systems. “Existing technologies struggle when contaminants are hidden or the density is too low to find enough contrast. And, low-density material, such as soft plastic, is used more and more as a packaging material.”

Finding Floor Space and Flexible Manufacturing

A couple of end-user themes stated at this year’s PACK EXPO International by machinery suppliers were flexible manufacturing and custom solutions. “We specialize in customizing magnets to meet unique requirements,” Waibel says. “A recent customer asked for a magnet (solution) that would be portable and allow them to use it in several locations.” This cherry processing application included a custom liquid line magnet and screen combination unit, which passed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) audits.

Microwave detection identifies contaminants like metal and glass, but also wood, rubber, soft and hard plastics, and pit fragments for liquid line applications.Food Radar Systems

Key Technology provides a digital sensing solution that positions bottom-mounted sensors and light sources on belt-fed sorters. This solution enables the sorter to sustain top and bottom viewing for all surface inspection of the product stream throughout. The multiple sensors approach increases contrast to find and remove less-dense foreign material and reduce false positives.

In 2023, Advantech acquired Bitflow’s frame-grabber technology and now offers hyperspectral imaging for food processors that measure fat, sugar, moisture and proteins in food products. The robust imaging technology uses each pixel, which contains a full spectral of information, and can detect contaminants but also quantify chemical and nutritive properties at high speeds. In addition, the hyperspectral imaging comes with a frame grabber computer that stores images locally at the host PC, freeing up the plant floor network from transmitting huge data packets.

“Data storage practices differ (for companies),” adds Waibel. “While some companies keep data locally for immediate reference and analysis, others integrate it into larger industrial systems for remote monitoring, trend analysis, and regulatory compliance reporting.”

Food Safety and Savings at Palermo’s Pizza

Food safety falls under quality management and is a continuous task for most food companies. For the last ten years, quality departments have moved away from manual processes and adopted productivity software that offers data analytics, internal audits, safety standards and traceability, to name a few. In the recent 2024 State of Smart Manufacturing report from Rockwell Automation, 1,567 consumer packaging goods respondents were asked about the positives in investing in manufacturing technology and “improving quality” ranked second at 37%. 41% of respondents (ranked first) wanted to “reduce cost,” and digitizing operations was in the fourth spot at 35%.

“Food manufacturers can select the right quality control systems—like metal detectors, vision systems, and x-rays—by focusing on the unique needs of their products and production lines,” says Lorei. “Given the broad versatility of today’s equipment, there’s no universal solution, so systems need to work in harmony to cover multiple quality areas effectively.”

Palermo’s Pizza employs a range of metal detection, x-ray, vision systems and checkweigher equipment for its bakery and production facilities that produce well-known frozen pizza brands like Screamin’ Sicilian.Palermo's Pizza

Palermo’s Pizza falls into this category as the Milwaukee-based company continually grows and expands its product portfolio. The 60-year-old business manufactures well-known frozen pizza brands like Screamin’ Sicilian, Urban Pie, Connie’s Pizza, and its flagship Palermo’s brand at its 250,000-sq-ft facility and has built a second plant targeted to produce another 50 million pizzas per year.

Palermo’s Pizza employs a range of metal detection, x-ray, vision systems and checkweigher equipment for its bakery and production facilities. “Inspection and detection equipment play a critical role in ensuring we deliver a great pizza experience, but they are only part of our broader operational improvement strategy,” Melanie Braam, director of quality assurance for Palermo’s Pizza. “The company relies on its range of inspection equipment to detect foreign material and detect anomalies for ingredients, and relies on the data capture abilities for continuous improvement efforts.”

While the pizza producer relies on advanced inspection equipment, the company also uses quality management software from QAD Redzone to increase production rates and identify areas for improvement. QAD Redzone’s Connected Workforce platform offers four modules: productivity, compliance, reliability and learning.

“We want to inspect to prevent and leverage valuable data that is collected by our equipment and technology. Collecting this information is critical for identifying trends, root causes, and areas that need improvement in the production process,” says Braam. “We use this data to drive continuous improvement and sustainability initiatives.”

Quality management software like this from QAD Redzone can monitor inspection and detection equipment in real time, increasing production rates and identifying areas for improvement.QAD Redzone

Palermo’s Pizza company operators can input and track data from equipment or report on damaged sections of machines into the reliability module of the quality software. “One of the pillars of autonomous maintenance is CIL—clean, inspect, lubricate—and the inspections are all about finding potential breakdowns before they become breakdowns, reducing the risk of foreign material, downtime, and material waste,” explains Braam.

The frozen pizza manufacturer’s continuous improvement program also detects ingredient waste. With its range of metal detectors, x-ray, and imaging equipment, line operators inspect cheese blocks before being shredded to find any foreign material.

“The main thing that stood out at Palermo’s was the implementation and ownership of the compliance module,” says Eric Jogun, vice president of operations for QAD Redzone. “Extreme ownership of going paperless led to a significant savings in materials (cheese and meats). The company’s use of data sheets really changed the way that the plant operated.”

During the initial phase of the continuous improvement program, the company’s cheese tracking audit saw waste reduced by 50% and a savings of $500,000 in the first run. “Every ounce of material we throw away impacts the cost of our goods,” says Braam.