X-RAYS DELIVER COMPREHENSIVE FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY CONTROL AT LEADING DAIRY
Two Ishida IX-GA 4075 X-ray systems are providing an enhanced quality control role at leading Belgium dairy Olympia.
The machines are monitoring Olympia’s market-leading range of dairy desserts, including rice pudding, and vanilla and chocolate puddings and creams, for contaminants such as metal, glass, ceramics and other non-metal foreign bodies, to ensure product quality is of the highest standards.
One IX-GA is dedicated to 100g and 200g pots, operating at up to 10,000 pots per hour, while the second system handles larger pack sizes up to 800g at around 4,000 pots per hour.
The Ishida systems were selected after an in-depth comparison with another manufacturer. Wim De Spiegeleer, Olympia’s operations manager, says the IX-GA delivered a better overall performance, including greater detection sensitivity and a clear and focused X-ray image of the product time after time, as well as offering a stable and well-engineered machine construction.
“With many other X-ray machines something like the lift-off tab on the dessert lid being raised up could trigger a false reject,” he explains. “This is a very annoying problem that causes extra stress for the operators and distracts them.”
The Ishida X-ray system avoids this problem thanks to its unique Genetic Algorithm (GA) technology, which enables operators to ‘train’ the machine to spot problems specific to each particular application by using image data analysis over a number of inspections. As it is common in food production for similar contamination problems to recur, data logging can help to build up a more precise calibration protocol with each inspection. This enables defects to be more easily identified and their location in the pack pinpointed, even at high throughput rates.
The ability to detect foreign bodies in the Olympia dessert range is important because of the company’s high standards, including absolute certainty.
“Filling the various desserts into the pots involves some quite complex machinery with many different moving parts,” explains Wim. “If any small parts were to drop off the machine, we need to be confident that these can always and quickly be identified.”
Metal detection is not an adequate solution, because of the aluminium foil lids on the pots. However, says Wim, in the past X-ray technology was deemed too expensive and the only tool was a thorough inspection of the machine each day. While Olympia still inspects the machines, this is now complementary to the technology and enables the company to inspect the condition of the machine at the same time.
“Today, X-ray prices are much more reasonable and this makes the investment worthwhile,” explains Wim. “And we can also benefit from the additional product quality monitoring.”
There are further advantages of the Ishida system, he continues.
“Because every pack is monitored and an image produced, we can very easily pinpoint the area of contamination in each individual pack. And the individual images are also an important part of our comprehensive traceability procedures.”
The two IX-GA models were installed by Ishida’s Belgium agent BRN, who also supplied the conveyors and guarding around the machines. Olympia reports that the X-ray systems are proving reliable and easy to set-up and operate.
“It is essential that operators trust these machines and are able to work with them day-in, day out,” concludes Wim. “The decision to purchase is made at one point but the machines will be around for many years afterwards so it is important to get it right. And that is what we have done with the Ishida IX-GA X-ray systems.”
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About Olympia
Established in 1946, Olympia, based in Herfelingen, Belgium and part of the Pajot Dairy group, has always been a family-run business, which today is headed by Luc and Marc Van Impe.
Olympia processes around 150 million litres of fresh milk annually, supplied from over 400 local independent farmers, into both fresh and long-life products, supplied under its own brands, private label and as a co-packer.
The company’s commitment to quality and product development has kept it at the forefront of the market over the years. The 1980s saw the building of its own sterilisation unit, while in the 1990s Olympia was one of the first dairies to start UHT milk production in PE bottles co-extruded in different layers.
The company began production of its milk-based desserts including a highly successful sugar-free range in the 2000s.
As well as its leading position in the Benelux market, Olympia products are sold in the rest of Europe and the company also exports its long-life products as far as Japan.
