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Welcome... Bienvenue... Willkommen... Benvenuto... Bienvenido... Welkom |
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While the benefits of checkweighers and metal detection systems are clear, budget restrictions have sometimes meant that companies have had to sacrifice quality and accuracy when purchasing new equipment.
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 IQ2 Conveyor - Part of the Select Range of Metal Detection Systems |
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Loma is delighted to introduce a new member to the team - Simon Spencer has been appointed as Sales & Marketing Director. Starting in June, Simon will be responsible for managing sales and marketing in Europe and the rest of the world outside the Americas.
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 Simon Spencer |
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Patties Foods, Australia’s largest pie manufacturer, had its work cut out in ensuring quality standards were met in monitoring the temperature of its products. While temperature probes met Patties’ initial requirements, it turned to Loma to provide greater accuracy and significant savings with its non-invasive Celsius temperature-sensing device.
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 Loma Scientific's Celsius system |
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Food contamination scares rarely leave the headlines. The recent Sudan 1 alert left the food industry on the back foot with thousands of products having to be taken from the shelves as the scale of the problem became apparent. Put simply, any type of contaminant making its way into the food chain means the brand’s reputation is damaged and consumer trust disappears, leaving manufacturers wide open to prosecution.
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 X3 Rapid |
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Greetings from China - the land of opportunity steeped in tradition. Consumer requirements in this region have significantly developed over recent years, with demand for packaged food making its mark on China’s economy.
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The articles in full |
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The Select range of checkweighers and metal detection systems meet the criteria of accurate inspection and durability, all within a budget that even the most cost conscious manufacturer can afford. The products also have an average delivery time of three weeks, enabling customers to enjoy the benefits as quickly as possible. Add this to the fact that the inspection systems are supported with Loma’s award-winning customer service to minimise downtime on production lines, and companies no longer have to make sacrifices when making that all important manufacturing investment.
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 IQ2 Conveyor - Part of the Select Range of Metal Detection Systems |
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Simon Spencer joins Spectrum Group with a wealth of experience in the food industry, both manufacturing and retail. Fluent in German, he has worked in various roles - predominantly with weighing equipment provider Avery-Berkel - where he was involved in international sales, marketing and project management. Simon’s most recent position within Avery-Berkel was General Manager in charge of the Company's business in Ireland.
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 Simon Spencer |
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Patties Foods Pty Ltd is a family owned company that produces frozen pies, pasties, sausage rolls, quiches, Danish pastries, doughnuts, waffles, cheesecakes and fruit pies under a variety of labels including the iconic Australian brands of Patties, Four’N Twenty, Herbert Adams and Nanna’s. It was established in the small seaside town of Lakes Entrance in Victoria, Australia, in 1966 where it started as a small cake shop. Since then Patties Foods has grown into the largest pie manufacturer in Australia producing over 30,000 tonnes of goods each year. Many of the products are sold through Australia’s major retail outlets including Woolworths, Coles Myer and Metcash as well as many foodservice companies.
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Patties Foods first learnt about Loma approximately 10 years ago when its Australian distributor, Inspection Systems, installed a pipeline metal detector at their plant. In 2001, Brad Grubb, Inspection Systems’ Managing Director, advised Patties that a high quality new temperature-measuring device was becoming available and lent them a prototype model of Celsius to test out in their production facility. Until then Patties Foods had been measuring temperatures of products coming out of their spiral freezer at about -18°C by drilling a hole to insert a hand-held temperature probe at least every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day. There were all sorts of issues associated with this procedure, the most important of which was the risk of injury to the operator from the power drill or, even worse, by sticking the probe into his/her hand.
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 Loma Scientific's Celsius system |
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Patties Foods recognized that by using Celsius they would not only eliminate the risk of injury to their staff, but they would also avoid an incredible amount of waste since a probed pie is no longer fit for sale.
Celsius is a temperature-sensing device designed to accurately sense the temperature of frozen food packs through the use of microwave thermometry. Microwave thermometry revolutionises the temperature testing of frozen food due to its non-contact and non-destructive nature that eliminates the need for intrusive probes causing product wastage. Results are recorded electronically and the user-friendly control panel incorporates an easy read display. The temperature trend of a product can be displayed to determine the efficiency of the freezer. Barcode identification of a product also allows the results of several products to be tested and displayed separately so the performance of the three spiral freezers used by Patties Foods can be monitored. After trialling Celsius for just a few days, the benefits of the machine were obvious. The procedure was considerably quicker and more reliable. Products coming out of the freezer are not always at the same temperature so the temperature of one sample may not be representative of all the products. Loma’s Celsius is able to sense the temperature of a number of samples at once and displays the average temperature of the products - a far more valuable parameter. According to Adrian Rijs, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs Manager at Patties Foods, “The benefits of Loma Celsius were felt immediately by our temperature testing staff. Indeed after just a few days of trialling it, they could not imagine working without it. We are not aware of any other system that can provide the same service, let alone rival Celsius.” Adrian continues: “Our customers demand that products we supply meet a certain temperature but they do not specify how we should measure it. The requirement is to preserve the food safety and quality not only of Patties’ products but also to protect any other frozen products which they may come in contact with when transported or stored. Celsius has certainly made this quality control objective easier to achieve with more reliable results.” Patties Foods, which is currently using three spiral freezers, reveals that Celsius has enabled them to save as much as $18,000 in a year by allowing them to measure the temperature of at least six products in an hour. Additionally Patties Foods is also saving on the cost of replacing probes that used to be lost or damaged prior to using Celsius. The quicker temperature measurement has also impacted on the work efficiency of their packaging employees. As well as improving the quality control process, Loma Celsius can also lead to overall energy efficiencies in the production environment. With strict temperature monitoring capabilities, production managers can guarantee that product is at the correct temperature and can keep freezers at the most energy-efficient levels, without unnecessary wastage. Adrian concludes: “We are very happy with Loma’s Celsius and can only commend the research team and manufacturers who developed this fantastic instrument. We are also pleased to have played a small part in testing Celsius in a manufacturing environment.” |
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(Article published in Dairy Industries International, May issue)
The X-Ray vs Metal Detector debate While metal detectors remain an important part of the quality control process across a range of sectors, X-rays have proved to be the equipment of choice in the dairy industry. In essence, metal detectors operate based on the principle of whether the metal contaminant is conductive or magnetic. High levels of either present within the product will compromise the performance of the detector. This can pose a problem working with dairy products. Take cheese as an example - when salt and water are combined the resulting substance has conductive properties. Both salt and water exist in cheese in fairly high quantities. These ingredients can therefore affect the metal detector’s reading, resulting in rejected items that aren’t necessarily contaminated. In addition, many dairy products use metal to some extent in their packaging - foil yoghurt lids, butter wrappers and cheese packs. This has a major impact on the detector’s performance, which results in an inability to detect non-magnetic stainless steel. This type of steel is used extensively in the dairy industry and is therefore a significant source of contamination. X-ray systems provide improved levels of contaminant detection and operate on an entirely different principle by measuring density rather than conductivity. The difference in density between stainless steel and dairy products for example, is eight times, compared to only a few percent when conductive properties are measured. X-rays can also identify a range of foreign bodies such as glass, plastic, rubber, bone and ceramics. |
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The evolution of the X-Ray
X-ray inspection systems have been around for a number of years, and initially served to complete one simple task - to detect contaminants. While this certainly did the job, requirements have changed. X-ray equipment now comes loaded with the latest image processing software to fulfil a whole range of varying requests. For example, Loma’s Mass Measurement software can calculate individual weights in a multi-compartment product, such as twin pot yoghurts or lunch packs. This allows accurate, ‘zonal’ weighing of each compartment rather than providing a general reading of the entire tray, thus minimising the risk of overweight / underweight segments not being detected. |
 X3 Rapid |
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Swiss cheese - the ‘hole’ story
Another example of software innovation can be found in the cheese industry. Next time you unwrap your Swiss cheese, just take a look at those holes - they hold much more information about the quality of the product than you think. So much so that during the manufacturing process the size of the hole present in cheese is closely scrutinised before it reaches supermarket shelves. Previously, core sampling techniques were used to measure the average sized holes of each particular batch. While this provided a solution to the quality control guidelines of the time, Loma designed software to more accurately address this, in real time with a 100% of the batch being inspected. Bubbles grow larger as the cheese matures. With this, the quality control process is all about achieving the right balance between holes and product. Loma’s X3 cheese inspection system includes hole analysis software, which can ensure that the correct number of holes exist at the right diameter, thus meeting one of the key quality control standards for Swiss cheese. Ultimately, X-ray systems have evolved to provide added value to each customer’s requirements. In addition, retailers are demanding more from their suppliers - many are upgrading their Code of Practice guidelines which all of their suppliers have to adhere to. Software additions to X-ray equipment is one way of helping manufacturers meet those guidelines. The equipment is also becoming a more cost effective option. In the early stages of this technology, maintenance charges were higher, with the lifetime cost far above that of a metal detector. Now, technological innovations such as the introduction of high gain sensors mean that systems can operate with much lower power levels, thus moving lifetime costs more in line with those of traditional metal detection systems. In addition, compare this investment against the cost of legal action and the implications of a tarnished brand - it surely isn’t the hardest decision to make regarding which option to go for… |
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Rising per capita income within the East, South, North and Northeast of China has stimulated the demand for higher-value packaged convenience foods, with customers moving away from lower-priced loose unbranded food as a result of hygiene concerns.
Consequently, growth of packaged food in China’s more developed regions will continue, with a predicted annual average rise of 7% from 2004-2009. Steven Fang manages Loma’s operations in China. As well as being responsible for direct sales he also works with a network of distributors across the country to meet the region’s requirements for heightened quality control on the production line. Growing markets for these systems include Shanghai, Beijing, the Fujian Province and Tianjin. |
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Customers are predominately based in the meat, poultry and bakery industries where metal detectors and x-ray inspection systems are proving to be the equipment of choice to meet their quality control guidelines. With this, consumers are then provided with the high standards they now expect when purchasing food.
For contact details in China or any other territories, please visit www.loma.com |
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Feedback and enquiries If you no longer wish to receive Loma News, please email us on lomanews@loma.com For further information on Loma's range of products and services, visit www.loma.com |
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