Tis the season to choose a combination inspection system

Everyone is looking forward to the festive party season and Christmas dinner but it can be a stressful time for the host. However, a flourishing convenience food market means there is no need to be a slave to the kitchen with retailers increasingly catering for ‘time-poor’ families and an ageing population. The supermarket shelves are packed with delicious chilled and frozen party food and ready-to-cook options, including pre-prepared Christmas dinners, all designed to take the hassle out of entertaining at this time of year.

Ensuring festive food ranges are free from contaminants like metal, calcified bone, glass, rubber and stone and is the weight stated on the packaging is crucial. Ready meals and food-to-go products often contain multiple elements or ingredients packaged in different compartments, include additional items like cutlery or condiments, and have high salt content. Plus many snacks such as nuts and cereals fluctuate in density which can make it difficult to find foreign bodies. This can create inspection challenges for convenience food manufacturers.

As a result, many of today’s food processors are choosing Loma’s X5c X-ray and Checkweighing combination inspection system which is capable of weighing products while simultaneously inspecting for foreign bodies, all in one compact and easy to use format.

These two integrated ‘detect and weigh’ technologies ensure food safety for brand protection, and consistency in weight, size and shape.

Loma’s X5c X-ray combo can be easily integrated where production space is limited and ensures manufacturers adhere to the latest BRC standards and major retailers’ codes of practice. The machine can be bolted on to an existing CW3 as one unit for truly effective CCP detection.

Built to Loma’s ‘Designed to Survive’ specifications, the X5c X-ray combo, including reject facility, measures just 2.5 metres in length. Produced from stainless steel, the complete combination unit is lead free and offers an unrivalled IP55 wash down design. Capable of running at speeds up to 150 packs per minute, it is operated using two independent control panels and has separate reject bins for out of weight and contaminated products.

Foods packaged in foil and metallised film and changes in product temperature and moisture content do not affect the sensitivity of the foreign body inspection capabilities of Loma’s X5c.

The X5c reduces the cost of ownership of X-ray technology by 30% when compared to the company’s other X5 models, making it ideal for food companies keen to make the switch to x-ray for the first time or to replace lower performance ferrous-in-foil twin head metal detectors.

It is multilevel password protected for improved data management, which means the system can log events against individual operators. It is ideal for the detection of all metal types, glass, calcified bone, rubber and stone in various packaging. The machine is capable of handling products up to 100mm (height) x and 300mm (width) and weighing no more than 6kg – making it ideal for a wide range of inspection applications.

Loma’s range of CW3 checkweighers offer peace of mind that every packed product leaving the production line will have the correct weight and meet strict legal or retailer requirements.

Like the X5c, the CW3 checkweigher is designed for operation in the toughest of production environments. It boasts quick change conveyor parts and powerful AC motors plus the tubular framework delivers a hygienic design but is flexible if transport or reject systems need to be changed.

Food manufacturers benefiting from a Loma X-ray combination system can ‘eat, drink and be merry’ safe in the knowledge that their festive food ranges are free from contaminants