How Sweet it is

LOMA SYSTEMS works with Persis Ltd. a family-run business devoted to making the finest quality baklava to help maintain their high standards for food safety

Persis Ltd. is a family-run business devoted to bringing the finest quality baklava to the continent. The company recently chose LOMA SYSTEMS, the world leader in the design and manufacture of inspection systems, to help maintain its high food safety standards in production.

Baklava is a decadent desert made with layers of filo pastry, crushed nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts) and honey. The company creates and bakes authentic baklava and Middle Eastern pastries that have high nutritional values as well as great flavours.

Persis has built a great reputation and are renowned throughout the UK for creating authentic and great tasting baklava. The company based in Wembley in London serves many of the finest London hotels, restaurants and European wholesalers.

Baklava, once relegated to the very rich in the Middle East, is now popular throughout the world. With an increase in international trade, the ingredients have become much more affordable and baklava is more commonly found today and continues to grow in popularity.

Persis manufactures over three tones of baklava a week, which is prepared in its dedicated site. The company has a strict HACCP policy and prides itself on maintaining the highest product standards. As part of its ongoing commitment to quality control the company is currently working toward their BRC accreditation.

Nasim Frazer, Production Manager at Persis comments, “We want to provide the highest quality standards both in the products we make and the production hall. As we work toward our BRC accreditation we also want the local councils to identify us as a benchmark to other food processors in the area.”

Each pastry is handmade and then placed on large metal trays to be cut into smaller individual portions then placed on metal racks and put into the oven to bake. They are then left to cool before being packed into various sized boxes and cartons, prior to being distributed to customers.

Persis identified that the runners on the metal racks were slowly being worn down by the metal trays constantly being transferred on and off the racks. This was causing minute metal filings from the runners to fall into the trays of baklava below. To eliminate this from happening, Persis knew they needed an end-of-line inspection system to match their own quality and reputation so they contacted LOMA SYSTEMS for advice.

Reza Hashemy, Managing Director of Persis explains, “We contacted LOMA because we knew that we wanted to inspect every product before it left our site. We were delighted with their representative who explained all the details and solutions available on the market, he really knew the inspection industry and this filled us with complete confidence.”

Persis purchased an award-winning LOMA IQ3 metal detector conveyor, which offers better sensitivity and stability and is more future proof than anything else currently on the market.

The LOMA IQ3 metal detector benefits from cutting edge ‘true variable frequency’ technology which was recently recognised for its innovation by the Food Processing Awards. This feature allows the operator to auto-select the correct frequency for maximum contaminant sensitivity. This was key to Persis as their production line inspects a number of different flavours of baklava every day.

The IQ3 has sophisticated electronics to enable the inventive ‘Automatic Product Learn’ system to calibrate and automatically learn the characteristics and settings for up to 100 different products. The machine is designed for tough wash down cleaning specifications and meets the IP69K environment standard.

The unit includes a Performance Validation System (PVS), which automatically prompts the operator to test performance at pre-set intervals according to HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) principles. This produces a detailed record of any contaminants found, leaving a detailed audit trail which is crucial to meeting BRC standards.

Nazim Frazer continues, “The IQ3 has exceeded our expectations, it is really easy to use and has given us total peace of mind that our products are free from any metal contaminants. We wanted to rule out every possibility of metal in our products so we chose the best technology available. We are really pleased with our LOMA IQ3 metal detector and we would recommend this machine to other food processors.”

The IQ3 metal detector conveyor system meets all current retail specifications, which is ideal as Persis plans to move into the retail market.