In 2024, the number of UK food recalls increased by 10%. Food safety specialist Phil Brown from Fortress Technology examines the rationale behind this rise and how a multi-layered approach to food inspections and contaminant detection can help to keep food and consumers even safer.
Prepared foods, including pasta and noodles accounted for the most common UK and global recall category, followed by confectionery in 2024. Nearly a quarter of a recalls (23%) were a result of labelling errors.
Detection technologies serve as critical safeguards against the most common contaminant risks —foreign objects. Metal detectors and X-ray systems help manufacturers identify and reject contaminants like metal flakes, nutshells, or dense plastic fragments at various points in production. These are increasingly being combined with checkweighers and vision systems to advance quality control.
“It is always important to reflect and assess. A recall can and does happen to anyone. Even processors with robust inspection policies and technologies. Rather than asking ‘if’, processors should always consider ‘when’. Mitigating future contaminant risks means proactively identifying vulnerabilities before they surface. None of this effort is wasted,” highlights Phil.
Although every production line has unique challenges, a customised, multi-tech approach—based on thorough risk analysis—gives manufacturers the best chance of maintaining product integrity and consumer trust. It can be commonplace to see two technologies, for example metal detection and checkweighing or X-ray and vision, in combination inspection units or even multi-lane configurations. Fortress eventually anticipates wider adoption and integration of all these technologies in food production environments, particularly at the end of the HACCP packaging lines.
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Decisions regarding the implementation of these inspection systems should be grounded in a thorough risk analysis of every manufacturer’s processes. This approach ensures that the chosen systems effectively mitigate potential risks specific to the production environment, such as foreign object contamination or compliance issues.
It is equally important to note that no single technology can catch every possible contaminant. That’s why pairing metal detection with X-ray or vision inspection creates a layered defence system. This is especially effective in complex food production processes, such as prepared meals.
For example, X-ray machines employ density detection and will therefore more easily identify denser contaminants, including some metals, glass, ceramic, high density plastics, and most stones. However, there are certain metals that can be more challenging to detect in food products using X-ray, including lightweight foil strips found in PPE, very thin box blades and thin metal flakes. Although visible to a metal detector, in contrast, there’s not enough density differential between the lower density metal and the product being inspected for an X-ray to detect.
Since label errors typically account for the greatest number of recalls in the UK and Europe, followed by hygiene issues and then foreign object contaminations, machine vision is increasingly being adopted in more advanced systems to assist with label checks. Fortress already anticipates this trend escalating, particularly among global suppliers who will need to adhere to the forthcoming FDA Final Rule if supplying products into the US. Although this rule doesn’t specifically apply to all food products, it does set a precedence for traceability which all processors should try to emulate.
Maintaining high safety standards while also improving line efficiency is another widespread pressure. To meet both objectives, modern inspection systems are being engineered with smarter features that allow for earlier intervention, faster fault detection, and more precise quality control.
For example, integrated inline checkweighing and vision inspection support quality assurance by verifying pack weights and catching packaging or allergen-related errors on food labels. All these features are increasingly supported by intelligent software platforms which allow manufacturers to monitor system performance, generate compliance reports, and streamline traceability efforts from a central dashboard.
These software solutions can assist food processors to respond quickly to recalls if issued. Fortress is already using its own proprietary data software package, Contact 4.0, across its metal detection and checkweighing technologies. This enables quality managers to review, collect data and securely oversee the performance of multiple Fortress metal detectors, checkweighers or combination inspection machines connected on the same network.
Utilising automated data integration technologies like OPC UA Adapters and Ethernet/IP Adapters provides those with established data reporting processes the opportunity to merge inspection data and stream within the firewall of a business network. With these solutions, data tags defined by each processor are converted in real time to an internal business database. These could be pulled into enterprise resource planning (ERP) or other structured plant monitoring systems, providing valuable oversight to support flexible production.
When balancing the risks and rewards of investing in optimised inspection systems, many users don’t perceive them as generating value for their business beyond the need to comply with customer demands, such as retailer codes of practice. However, overlooking the long term benefits could be an expensive mistake cautions Phil:
“By weighing the cost of equipment versus the cost of a product recall, the decision to invest in good quality, easy to integrate inspection equipment should a simple one.”
For more practical guidance on how customised technologies are bolstering quality control and recall response rates for manufacturers with a fast ROI, download one of the latest Fortress Technology whitepapers. https://fortresstechnology.com/future-proofing-the-detection-of-contaminants-in-candy/?hsCtaAttrib=185475279151
