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Preventing physical contamination is a crucial step for food manufacturers committed to delivering safe and high-quality products. Our comprehensive guide, “Five Steps to Prevent Physical Contamination,” offers effective strategies to help manufacturers build strong food safety programs, helping to protect their brand and meet strict industry standards.
This guide covers:
- The high costs of product recalls and how to avoid them
- Methods to achieve and maintain food safety compliance
- Proven techniques to detect and remove physical contaminants during production
- Advice on selecting the right contamination detection technology—metal detection, x-ray inspection, or a combination of both solutions
This guide is designed for food manufacturers, quality assurance professionals, and production managers. It provides practical insights to prevent physical contamination in food while maintaining productivity, protecting brand reputation, and complying with industry requirements.
Suppliers to retail companies understand the need to keep product quality very high. Taking careful steps to prevent physical contamination in food and beverages helps secure supplier contracts.
Physical contamination in food means there are unwanted foreign materials in the food. Examples include:
- Metal, which can enter the product when equipment breaks or malfunctions during production.
- Plastic, which can be accidentally introduced from employee items or improper packaging.
- Glass, which can cause contamination through the breakage of containers or factory fixtures.
- Stone or bone, which can enter the production line from raw materials.
- Rubber, which can cause contamination in product from worn or poorly maintained parts like seals, gaskets, or conveyors, or during maintenance procedures conducted near the production line.
Physical contamination that arrives in raw ingredients or is introduced during production can lead to unexpected downtime, damage to production equipment, and potential harm to consumers if the contaminated products reach the market.
Product recalls due to contamination can have costly consequences, such as compensation claims or damage to the brand's reputation.
With the increased number of products recalled for food safety concerns, it’s important for brand owners and manufacturers to be transparent with how they address food safety issues. They need to correctly identify likely contaminant types, pinpoint the weak points or vulnerabilities in production, and establish an action plan to prevent contamination. Knowing the types and sources of potential physical hazards can help with deciding on the appropriate prevention methods.
Foreign material control programs use inspection technologies such as metal detection or x-ray inspection to detect and remove physical contaminants at various stages of production. The contamination detection method used may differ depending on the specific requirements of the application. Sometimes, using both technologies is best for the production line.
Using modern, adaptable inspection systems builds trust in the brand’s ability to prevent physical contamination now and in the future as production needs change.
