Leading meat processor, Bell Food Group recently invested in the modernization of their production line for burger patties. Due to increased customer requirements for superior quality, but also growing demands in terms of quality assurance and production efficiency, Bell chose to install a new X39 x-ray inspection system from Mattler-Toledo.
The X39 x-ray inspection technology is utilized to detect foreign bodies that are often found in meat including metallic contaminants, bone/cartilage, stones or glass. Moreover, the X39 is quite versatile, as it comes featuring additional options such as checking for product abnormalities or visual defects.
Once an error is spotted, “an image of each individual rejected patty is saved in the image library so that we can analyze exactly where and how the problems occurred”, explains Ueli Schönenberger, who is in charge of patty production at Bell.
To bring the new system on board, Bell had to dismantle the previous line, conduct a hall conversation, as well as a replace individual product line components.
The X39 x-ray is currently considered the state-of-the-art product inspection equipment for producing high safety food items. What’s more, the system allows for faulty patties to be visualized and rejected automatically without manual intervention.
At Bell, the X39 is used to monitor over in excess of a million patties a week. Most of these are three standard products of varying size, form, and weight. Depending on the type of patty being produced, the x-ray system will inspect between three and six lanes. If a visual defect is detected in a patty, the X39 will reject it using multi-lane air nozzles. Older x-ray systems used to discard entire batches when a defect was detected, but the X39 only eliminates the exact faulty patty thus minimizing product volume loss.
For example, the X39’s integrated laser checks verify whether the patties have been separated properly. In case of rejection, these patties will be prepared for rework.
“The x-ray technology provides us with enormous benefits in terms of quality assurance. We inspect the patties not only to check for foreign bodies but also to ensure that the patties have no visual defects. This simplifies packaging and the customer receives a perfect-looking burger,” explains Schönenberger.
Furthermore, the X39 also aids with streamlining operations. The system allows to save the product settings and tolerance limits for each patty variant, so employees only have to select a product from the product library to kick-start the inspection process based on the previously saved data.
