What’s New With The Food Safety Guidelines

Food safety guidelines have taken a prominent position in the headlines lately as several major meat and poultry companies have faced major recall issues.  With recalls like these potentially costing millions of dollars and eroding consumer confidence, it’s no wonder that these companies are taking this problem seriously.

The government is also taking notice, with the USDA recently issuing updated guidelines for food safety.  The overall goal is to streamline the process of reporting and addressing consumer complaints to prevent widespread contamination.  

Of course, most food companies implement their own in house safety standards, including the use of metal detectors to ensure that their products are free of any contaminants.  Unfortunately, with regular use over time the very detectors that are supposed to be ensuring safety can become a part of the problem unless they are carefully monitored and regularly audited.  In order to avoid this kind of problem using metal detector test rods is the best way to determine that your equipment is functioning properly and keep your products free of contamination.

The newly updated food safety guidelines are aimed, for most part, at limiting the impact of existing recalls by encouraging manufacturers to take all consumer complaints seriously and report them to the USDA within twenty four hours after receiving them.  This can help to prevent a more widespread health issue, but for food companies themselves it still makes more sense to avoid these problems entirely by ensuring the safety of all products from the beginning of the packaging process.

Fortunately, the method for doing so is relatively straightforward and all it requires is the use of specially designed test samples.  Test pieces in a variety of shapes and sizes, from rods to spheres or even a customized solution, can be run through a company’s metal detectors to ensure that they are working properly.  If a machine works as it is intended, it will detect the presence of the test sample and reject it before it reaches the end of the automated process. Using the standard set of ferrous, non-Ferrous and stainless steel metals can help to make the testing process more thorough and improve safety standards dramatically.

Regal Packaging is well aware of the importance of following food safety guidelines.  That’s why we produce a wide range of high quality metal detector test standards to accommodate many different types of detectors.  Available in a number of shapes, including spheres, rods and laminate, acetal and thermoform cards, our test samples are made with ferrous (chrome steel), non-ferrous (brass) or stainless steel 316.  X-ray inspection test pieces also include aluminum, soda-lime glass and ceramic (ZR02). This provides the widest variety so that they’ll work with all types of metal detectors and x-ray inspection systems.

Stainless steel 316 is particularly important for testing as it has non-magnetic properties that make it difficult to detect.  That means that if a detector can accurately pick up test pieces made of stainless steel 316 it should have no problem picking up other types of metal.  This, combined with the fact that these pieces are designed not to degrade, allowing them to stand up to constant use, makes them the best choice for ensuring the accuracy of your detectors and the safety of your products.  Regal Packaging Certificates of Compliance are offered complimentary and without expiration.

With both the USDA and the FDA recently upgrading their food safety guidelines in response to the increase in recalls, the importance of product testing is more significant than ever.  The government is taking steps to tighten control over products imported from other countries as well as expediting the reporting process for consumer complaints, but it remains the responsibility of individual companies to implement regular testing practices and ensure the function of their metal detectors.  

Regal Packaging, Inc. understands how important safety is to companies and consumers alike, which is why each test piece we manufacture is certified for the life of the test piece and produced to meet the customer’s exact specifications.  Food safety is so incredibly important that the government is stepping up its approach with tighter guidelines, and quality test samples from Regal Packaging can help you do your part as well.