rand loyalty is fragile in today’s food industry, with errors causing irreversible damage to a company’s reputation,
eroding profit margins and stalling growth. To minimise these risks, intelligent contamination detection systems are essential, but with fast-moving production and increasingly complex supply chains, maintaining consistent inspection accuracy is critical.
Ultra-sensitive inspection systems are vital for food safety. Under GFSI and HACCP standards, industrial food metal detectors must be tested using ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless-steel test samples at the start and end of each shift, sometimes hourly and between product changeover. But with output per hour being a critical productivity metric, machine uptime on any heavy product application inspection line is essential. Maintaining the proper oversight required from modern food safety standards means automation is necessary. By replicating the presence of contaminants
at a pre-programmed ‘worst-case’ positioning in the product flow or pack, automated testing systems remove the guesswork, variability and safety risks inherent in manual testing. Tests can be triggered manually, remotely or run automatically on a schedule, ensuring consistent results without interrupting production. Key benefits include:
• Standardised, reliable testing 20
• Reduced labour and operational costs • Improved workforce safety by removing manual test procedures • Reduced product waste by avoiding test sample recovery
• Increased uptime, throughput potential and opportunities for growth
• Tamper-proof digital audit trails • Ability to increase test frequency without requiring additional labour. As an example, Fortress Technology’s Halo
Automatic Test system generates a calibrated signal mimicking a metal contaminant while delivering real-time, verifiable data. By eliminating the risk of missed or inaccurate tests, manual subjectivity and data gaps, Halo enables processors to maintain QC standards without slowing production. Of further benefit, with daily Run Time Equivalent (RTE) costs estimated at £200 to £250 per metal detector and UK food production supervisors earning on average £34,600 annually, labour savings alone can recoup the investment in months. Ardent Mills is one company which is
already seeing tangible results. Processing and packing over 22 million bags of milled product annually, the company activated the Halo software on several of its Fortress conveyor metal detectors. A built-in blue light indicator now distinguishes test cycles from contamination events, eliminating unnecessary rework and waste. This feature alone has significantly reduced product waste.
To unlock the full potential of Industry 4.0, inspection technologies must integrate with broader strategic and food traceability plans. This helps to ensure that data is actionable across an entire production facility, as well as scalable. Technologies like Contact 4.0 deliver this. Using OPC UA connectivity, multiple machines can be networked to provide a single view of inspection performance. This live data helps processors generate full-site compliance reports, track Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and feed performance insights directly to QA and technical teams. Tethering multiple front-end production machines to back-end reporting software in real time, Fortress Technology’s Contact 4.0 solution has enabled real-time monitoring across several Mennel Milling facilities. “Every morning, we receive an automatically generated report to support our decision- making,” explains senior corporate packaging engineer, Dieter Flick. “Contact 4.0 displays checkweigher histograms, reject data, and product giveaway trends, helping us pinpoint upstream filling issues before they escalate.”
As food factories become increasingly connected, the volume of available data offers unprecedented control over production, efficiency and safety. Phil Brown, sales director at Fortress Technology Europe, comments: “Connectivity is the foundation of any digitalisation strategy. However, the real value comes from how the data is analysed – identifying trends and patterns that drive smarter business decisions.” For food processors, this means fewer errors, less waste, and a safer, more efficient supply chain.
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