How to Enable Compliance and Safety in the Food Industry with Software Systems

The solution is a guideline-compliant production of food that guarantees both process safety and the highest efficiency and quality. Whether metal or X-ray inspection - new software developments ensure that the production machines work flawlessly at all times, waste is reduced, and thanks to seamless monitoring and documentation, they are well protected against manipulation.

For you as a food manufacturer, product quality and productivity are top priorities. In addition, you are legally obliged to comply with a whole range of food standards.

To ensure that inspection systems function reliably, regular quality controls must be carried out. Partners for inspection systems can support you in this: from preparatory consulting, to selecting the right device and testing its functionality using test bodies in actual production operations, to annual maintenance including the issuance of a certificate. 

The following six stages guarantee the best detection performance of inspection systems and guideline-compliant production in the food industry:

1. Qualification: Ensuring that the right device/system is selected for the detection of foreign bodies and thus the hazards from the HACCP analysis are controlled. Qualification includes checking the detection accuracy (P.O.D) for all available foreign body types (10/10 detection runs) 
2. Pre-Validation: Commissioning of the device by the manufacturer without production conditions, determining the detection accuracy for all available foreign body types using existing products (at least 10/10 runs for each foreign body type and each product group) and determining the expected false reject rate (F.R.R). 
3. Validation / Re-Validation: Initial confirmation of the F.R.R. and the P.O.D. under production conditions for all available foreign body types (at least 10/10 runs for each foreign body type and each product group) or re-validation of the detection accuracy and false reject rate after a significant change in the production line by the manufacturer. 
4. Monitoring: Daily/hourly check of the operational readiness of the inspection system before production starts and after product change, testing the device with at least one detection/rejection run of a test body. Regular checks are carried out via the audit check by the operator. 
5. Operator Validation: In conjunction with the IVP software, the operator can perform their own validation at regular intervals (monthly/quarterly), validate additional products, document in the "Report of Validation" and save on the device. 
6. Manufacturer Validation: Checking the electrical properties and safety of the device and creating a validation certificate (including confirmation of the F.R.R. and the P.O.D.) and a service report by the manufacturer. Manufacturer validation should be carried out annually.

But how can you guarantee that quality is assured?

The more quality control, the better. In practice, this can only be implemented using automated software functions that take over the functional testing of inspection devices. Read here which software functions these are.

Food safety knows no compromises, and seamless and efficient documentation is necessary. The following five software functions make this possible: 

1. Audit Check - Continuous Quality Monitoring

The regular execution of an audit routine, where all steps are logged, is extremely important to ensure consistently high product quality. In just three steps - Request, Audit-Check, Result - the results of the inspection of the affected production steps are stored in a logbook.  In the event of a faulty routine, the conveyor line is stopped.

Advantages

• An audit routine is ensured and logged
• Continuous quality monitoring
• Consistently high product quality

2. Sensitivity Prediction - Automatic Determination of Detection Sensitivity

The most suitable detection sensitivity for various foreign bodies is automatically determined by the software after the learning process and after changes, reliably meeting customer requirements.

Advantages

• Immediate overview of the sensitivity level
• Easy comparison with the required detection sensitivity
• Enormous time savings during the learning process
• Easy determination of the best inspection level for the product to be examined

3. Compliance Mode - Highest Process Stability

The sensitivity can be set to factory or audit standards at the push of a button to produce in compliance while simultaneously reducing the false reject rate, which means minimizing the loss of good material. Process stability is thus consistently maintained.

The user can configure the system to determine what should happen in the event of non-compliance with the configured sensitivity prediction, whether it be a warning message or stopping the production line.

Advantages

• Compliance with food safety standards
• Savings in labor, packaging, and product waste
• Increase in production efficiency
• Display of predicted performance and compliance values for easy verification
• For X-ray inspection systems: less relearning with difficult products

4. Integrated Compliance Monitoring - Always Under Control

The detection performance of the inspection system is continuously monitored, leading to immediate detection of deviations and an increase in the stability of the production process. This function works with a two-stage approach: self-monitoring of the detection unit and compliance mode.   

Functionality in Metal Detection

The detector is monitored by an internal test signal that is tuned to the product during the learning process. As soon as the received information does not match the specific requirements, the system triggers an error or warning message, depending on the configuration.  For easy and quick verification, the predicted performance and compliance values are displayed, and an error or warning message is issued if the limits are exceeded.

Functionality in X-ray Inspection

The initial sensitivities are calculated and stored directly after the autotrain process. The current sensitivity for stainless steel and glass is continuously and automatically checked at a fixed time interval. The sensitivity limits can be manually set. If the limits are exceeded, an error or warning message is issued.  

Advantages

• Compliance with food safety standards
• Savings in labor time, packaging, and product waste
• Increase in production efficiency
• Increase in product quality
• Reduction of the risk of inadequate quality controls and records

5. Integrated Validation Process - Transparent and Seamless Documentation

The validation process is a documentation tool and provides proof in the form of a certificate that the desired quality goals for the respective product are achieved. Based on several samples, it is determined whether the results are consistent. This way, the inspection system keeps track and automatically warns when validation is required before the next audit.  

The validation is carried out in 2 steps:

1. Calculation of the false reject rate (F.R.R.)
2. Calculation of the probability of detection (P.O.D.)

The validation certificate issued directly by the service from the inspection system manufacturer is unique. It provides proof of the normal distribution of the inspected product and another limit or control point for daily routine tests.  

Advantages

• Consistent validation
• Automatic creation of a backup of all settings to restore the device to the state of validation
• Records in the metal detector
• Establishment of realistic test standards and ensuring compliance
• Reliable report data
• The user automatically receives a notification for the next validation. Thus, there is no need to attach stickers that could come off.
• The certificate can be saved in PDF format on a USB stick.

For all other existing systems, inspection system manufacturers offer manufacturer validation as a service. The service includes the creation of the annual validation certificate and a maintenance report. Among other things, a repeat test of the probability of detection (P.O.D.) is carried out at the most unfavorable location of the metal detector using the specified test bodies.

Advantages:

• Conducting the repeat test including evaluation and documentation
• Determination of the threshold value to provide the customer with additional security during the daily routine check

The demands of food safety are constantly increasing. In the past, high-end devices that quickly and reliably detected various foreign bodies in food were sufficient. Nowadays, such inspection devices are not enough. Only with innovative software functions can seamless and efficient documentation be guaranteed to produce in compliance with guidelines and safely.