Foreign body detection equipment in food processing

On September 29, 2022, France notified the country through RASFF that its export of marshmallows was unqualified due to the detection of metal particles in marshmallow products. According to reports, substandard products were sold to Hong Kong, Latvia, South Africa and Uruguay.

Incidents such as eating foreign objects in food happen from time to time, both abroad and in China. During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, plastic was found in mooncakes produced by a snack brand; recently, a black hair-like foreign body was also found in a meringue sold by a supermarket brand, and was fined more than 50,000 yuan.

Due to the failure of enterprises to detect foreign bodies in food during production, some foreign bodies are mixed into food, which not only harms consumers' rights and interests, but also endangers food safety. And if foreign objects are detected in export products like French marshmallows, it will also affect the country's image.

The contamination of foreign bodies in food processing is mainly divided into endogenous foreign bodies and exogenous foreign bodies. Among them, endogenous foreign matter refers to the foreign matter contained in our food raw materials and accessories, such as bones in meat and vegetable roots in vegetables. Exogenous foreign bodies refer to substances that are not originally part of the raw materials and are mixed into food, such as sediment, metal, stone, plastic, glass, etc.

So what factors are likely to cause foreign matter to be mixed in the entire food processing process? The first is that the production raw materials are easily mixed with foreign bodies, and these foreign bodies are difficult to be distinguished in large-scale food production;

Secondly, in the process of food processing, jewelry, buttons or debris on the workers' clothes are easily mixed into the food materials; in addition, during the operation and maintenance of food processing machinery, metal debris may appear Finally, it is easy to cause improper operation in the packaging process to cause packaging to be mixed.

Therefore, for the main body of food processing, it is very important to standardize production and carry out foreign body detection. In terms of standardized production, employees need to do a good job of disinfection and sterilization before entering the production workshop, choose work clothes that are not easy to fall or be contaminated with debris, and wear work clothes and hats correctly to avoid hair falling.

In terms of foreign body detection, in addition to strengthening manual supervision, some specific foreign body detection equipment should also be introduced, such as metal detectors, X-ray foreign body detection equipment, etc. These detection machines can detect impurities with high sensitivity and high stability. Help manufacturers effectively improve the quality of finished products.

All in all, food safety is an unbreakable bottom line, and the main body of production is obliged to protect the safety of our tongues. The main body of food production should standardize the operation and do a good job of testing in the food production process, make good use of various testing equipment, and build a strong line of defense for food safety. For export companies, it is also necessary to strictly ensure the safety of products, avoid export risks, and maintain the image of the company and even the country.