Certified Test Pieces
Certified Test Pieces
August 15, 2022
What You Really Need to Know About Certification
Knowing What’s Really Being Certified is Critical
January 1, 2023
Certified Test Pieces
Certified Test Pieces
August 15, 2022
What You Really Need to Know About Certification
Knowing What’s Really Being Certified is Critical
January 1, 2023

Regal Packaging Services is a family-owned company that specializes in contamination detection and quality inspection.

What Regal Packaging Does

At Regal Packaging Services, our primary objective is food safety and quality assurance. And we approach that from five different angles:

  • Fortress Technology metal detector  and checkweigher sales, what we believe to be the best in the world. And you can put that claim to the test. Our sales area covers Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa. With Fortress, you get: Simple Operation, Exceptional Performance, Outstanding Reliability and a Never Obsolete Commitment.  Visit Regalpack.com, call 630-942-8461 or email us @regalpack@regalpack.com
  • Service on Fortress Technology metal detectors. We don’t simply sell a machine and then walk away. We can provide service at all levels, assist with startup, and provide training.  And while others may take weeks to show up, we’ll be there when you need us.
  • Metal Detector and X-ray Inspection system audits, whether on an annual, semi-annual, or quarterly basis. We can get you ready for that visit from the auditor. We audit all makes and models of metal detectors and x-ray systems. It’s another reason you can trust us to help meet the needs of the industry.  Visit DetectorAudits.com call 800-976-2390 or email inquiries@detectoraudits.com
  • Worldwide sales of certified test pieces (purchased here or call 866-691-8560 or email testrods@testrods.com) will ensure that your systems are in working order. You will meet the demands of your HACCP plan, and test pieces come with free certificates that never expire. The Regal Packaging Team
The Regal Packaging Team

Regal PackagingWe are a small business, but we have nearly a century of combined experience in the industry, and we stand on a reputation of honest sales and superior customer service. We can meet the challenges of any product application and help secure the safety of the end customer in the marketplace.

Bob Loerop built Regal Packaging from the ground up, on a foundation of integrity and a strong knowledge base of the food industry. He started out in the x-ray field, and then became a sales and service representative in the metal detection field without giving up an active presence working with x-ray inspection systems. And he knows what makes an operation run smoothly and effectively. He and the team know metal detectors and x-ray systems inside out and understand the process of contaminant detection at a fundamental level.

We’ve been in the industry long enough to know what works and what doesn’t. And that includes variables such as product effect, good manufacturing practices, metal types, and sensitivity, and we’ve seen every type of metal detector you can imagine from vertex to big bag conveyor units. We’re familiar with the standards set by BRC, SQF and GFSI and FSMA. Armed with knowledge, experience, and expertise, we have a brand that can serve all your needs.

Regal Packaging “Bread and Butter”

We take special pride in the fact that what we do contributes toward ensuring the safety and quality of food products. Though our equipment and test pieces are used in a wide array of industries including textiles and pharmaceuticals, the food and beverages industry is the core of our business. No matter how careful you are, it is a challenge to prevent metal, glass, ceramic or other contaminations of food products.

As a company, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. We understand that our customers come from different industries, produce different products (dry, wet and frozen) and have different needs. This is exactly why we offer a full complement of contaminant detection systems and services.  Give us a call and see what puts the Regal Packaging team ahead of the competition.

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Some applications involve large tubs, vats, or some other type of product travel where it would be nice to have a test piece that floats. Once again, our thermoform cards provide the simplest solution. We simply insert some type of structure that forces the thermoform card to retain air, which, of course, is what makes it float. We have also manufactured floating rods, which are more difficult because there is less space to close in enough air to make the rod float but is doable.

We took an ordinary plastic “chip clip” as defined by the customer and embedded the contaminant into the clip. The clip can be attached to the product on the line without damaging or opening the product for testing purposes.

Bone is a difficult contaminant to find because it can vary widely based on the size, age, and calcium content (as well as feed used) of the animal. After working with several customers, Regal Packaging Services offers Pork, Beef and Chicken Bone Simulate. We have a small range of sizes at a variety of depths to simulate whatever you might expect to find in the product. Our recommendation (assuming your x-ray has visual display) is always to start with a multi-card. Using a multi-card gives you an easy way to test several sizes and depths to determine what matches the bone you’re using. Once you’ve made a comparison, testing the card against the bone you’re looking for, you can purchase a card with a single contaminant for regular testing.

This small pill shaped test piece is used in a system with a vacuum tube that shoots the test piece through the aperture and returns it to the “home” base. Your system may never be like it, but the point is that we can make a customized solution no matter how unusual or impossible it might seem.

As you may have seen in some of the other thermoform card descriptions, we can put nearly as many seeds as you can imagine on a single card. Pictured here you will find a wide variety of configurations and contaminants. Just let us know your specs: size of the card (up to 8” x 8”) along with size and type contaminant(s) and we’ll get you a quote as quickly as possible. Working with a multi-card is especially helpful when you are looking for multiple types of contaminants or when you want to determine what size of the same contaminant you are able to detect. In that event, once the size is chosen, you can order individual card(s) for regular, standard inspection and detection.

There are a wide range of applications that require a test piece much longer than our standard 5” or 6” Testrods. We can make up to 3/8” x 34” or 1/2” x 34” rigid test pieces which can then be extended well beyond that length with a “handle” made of acetal cylinder larger than the 3/8” or 1/2” extension. In the photos, we used a 1” x 24” cylinder handle with a 3/8” x 24” inch extension.

Test pieces can be made in a variety of sizes and given a pointed end in applications that require the contaminant (metal) to be inserted into a food package such as sugar or some other soft packaged food product. This allows the metal to reach the center of the aperture.

Double-End Test Whips are also available, with metal in both ends. One consideration is to make certain that the whip is long enough to keep the metal on the non-testing side of the whip outside the metal free zone of your detector. If you insert, for instance one end of a whip with 2.0mm and 3.0mm Ferrous, you need to make certain that the 2.0mm metal doesn’t affect the detection of the 3.0mm metal (and vice versa). If the 3.0mm metal is inside the metal free zone, then the detector will be reacting to the 2.0 as well as the 3.0 as if they were combined.

Multi-seed laminate test cards are designed for seeds 4.0mm or less. Multi-cards are useful in x-ray inspection to determine what sizes and types of contaminants your system can achieve. They can be especially useful in temperate environments and applications. If your application is rugged or wet, or your standards are larger, we recommend our thermoform multi-cards.

We can simulate a variety of packaging in an application where you need the test piece to mimic what is traveling down the production line. In this case, we manufactured a clear “package” with the seed inside. With this method, the customer is able to reject the container appropriately, and, in the event the package is not rejected, it is easily seen by the line worker for manual removal.

There are two types of “candy bars” pictured here – one similar to a flat candy bar and the other in a custom, near perfect copy of a candy bar. Since we’re now able to produce many variations using colored material, the copy was made in red (Fe), green (NFe) and blue (SS 316). We have the equipment to accomplish nearly anything you can imagine, and these kinds of designs are proof positive.

Need a test piece that looks and handles like chicken nugget? We can do it. Interestingly enough, in this situation, our first version for the customer left too much “void” in the hole where the metal was placed. Given the sensitivity the customer system was using, the void had the effect of causing false positives. We were able to minimize that hole and supply the test piece with almost no void. It’s an example of how we can work with you before, during and after manufacturing to ensure all the specifications were met.

Our standard acetal card is 2 1/4"x3 3/8,” but if needed, we can cut that size down to as small as 1 1/4” x 1 1/4” (with limited engraving). If a larger card or a card with multiple seeds is needed, see our Custom Shape-Size Blocks and Tablets.

This distinctive test piece was created to mimic an actual hamburger patty. The customer supplied photos of the raw product, which we were able to reproduce and then we placed blue glove contaminant. Using this configuration, the customer was able to determine what size piece the vision scanning system could detect with the raw burger as the background. Had they simply used a blank card with the glove, the system could easily have achieved contaminant rejection, but they needed to be sure the system could “see” the blue against the product itself.

A card with 100 seeds in a 10x10 configuration is used to place beneath whole chickens on a production line. This gives the x-ray system operator the ability not just to see IF the equipment can detect the metal in the card, but also WHERE the equipment can detect it. If there is a problem, the operator (or company) can make any changes necessary to achieve the end goal – safe chicken in this case. This card really highlights another valuable facet of our thermoform cards.

In this scenario, a company processing sugar needed to have a “bag” simulated with the same weight in order to accurately fall through the reject mechanism. A lighter test piece had the risk of passing over the reject mechanism.

Our standard cubes are 1” and 1.5,” but we can also manufacture other sizes if needed. The cubes shown here are 1/2" in dimensions. Cubes can be helpful in applications where a ball or cylinder may bounce or roll away during testing, making their retrieval difficult, or, in some cases, present a hazard to the product or production equipment.

This is a test piece that is dropped into a bottle. It’s designed so that the metal appears in the center of the aperture when testing the metal detector. In addition, the round stop makes the test piece easily removable after testing.

Hexagonal Shaped test pieces can be very useful in places where a cylinder or ball might roll or bounce around a production floor whether dropped by a line worker or ejection from a reject mechanism. Hexagons are similar in weight to the 1inch cylinders without having the smooth, rounded cylinder edge.

Our customer in this plant needed a test piece with a thickness less than 5.0mm. Because we have the capacity to customize sizes and shapes, we were able to mill down a product that met their specifications. That’s always our goal, meeting the specs you need for your product, testing environment and contaminants.