FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY ASSURANCE COMPLIANCE

FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY ASSURANCE COMPLIANCE

Meeting food safety regulations and ensuring product quality are at the forefront of manufacturers’ minds in today’s competitive and highly regulated markets. Whether a local artisan or global multi-national, manufacturers must assure their retailers and consumers alike that every single product which leaves their facility is safe, of high quality, and in compliance with all local and international regulations.

“Bad news travels fast” and in these days of global connectivity and social media platforms, there is an ever present risk that a single case of contamination, of product degradation, or mis-labeling, can become tomorrow’s headline news and cause irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation. Furthermore, as customers grow ever more selective in their choices, whether that be for vegan, non dairy, gluten free, or organic foodstuffs, manufacturers are producing increasingly niche products on common production lines, so it is essential that no cross contamination can possibly take place.

Traceability must also be considered, since as a legal requirement for food products, no producer can afford to ignore the topic. The ability to specifically target recalls, by identifying raw components and materials as they enter the process, then track their use in specific products and batches, not only saves the manufacturer money, but assists in problem diagnosis, thus preventing recurrence and protecting the brand image.

Al Thika Packaging LLC has been active in the field of product inspection, line quality control, production data collection and coding and marking, for more than 20 years. We are uniquely positioned in the region as a supplier of all the essential components needed by a food manufacturer to meet local, international and regulations, and comply with market led standards such as BRC (British Retail Consortium) SQF 2000 (Safe Quality Food), ISO 22000 etc.

We have expert knowledge, decades of experience, world class equipment suppliers and a large team of trained sales and service technicians, so we can guarantee not only the right choice of equipment, but project management, integration, software solutions and the technical back-up necessary to create, maintain and certify complete line inspection, Q.C. management and track and trace solutions.

METTLER TOLEDO – SAFELINE

Safeline’s x-ray inspection and metal detection systems are capable of detecting and rejecting ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless steel contaminants, as well as glass, mineral stone, calcified bone and high-density plastics and rubbers, regardless of their size, shape or location within a wide range of loose foods.

Advanced product inspection systems are capable of accurately detecting contaminants in high throughput environments, ensuring food safety whilst maximising line efficiency.

METTLER TOLEDO – CI VISION

A vision inspection programme is an essential tool for enhancing the efficiency, quality and productivity of operations such as manufacturing and packaging. It prevents defective product from being distributed to consumers, whilst monitoring for excessive defects and providing warnings when they occur.

Ensuring that the correct label is applied to packaging is essential to ensure customers will not be exposed to ingredients which might cause allergic reactions or worse. Rejecting bottles with cross threaded or untightened caps will prevent potentially unsafe product from reaching the consumer, whilst the confirmation of the correct production and expiry date, plus bar code, ensures legal requirements are met and that retailers will not have cause to reject consignments. Other measures used to protect a brand from consumer complaints include; containers inspected for contamination from foreign debris prior to filling, glass jars assured free from cracks and chips, and the edges of trays free from product before sealing takes place.

KEY TECHNOLOGY – SORTING SOLUTION

Key Technology is the premiere choice for the most comprehensive source of digital sorting, conveying and process automation technologies.

Each sorter is tailored to suit a customer’s specific product or range of products. Typical applications include the sorting of dates, nuts, snack foods, vegetables and fruits. Sorting is achieved using a selection of optical cameras and / or lasers; in the case of the Cayman system the biological ‘finger-print’ of the product is studied, allowing the sorting of good product from very similar looking contamination.

Whilst the elimination of contamination is one function, Key Technology systems can also grade according to size, colour, ripe or unripe etc. They are an essential Quality Control component of many high volume ingredient infeed processes.

GEMINI DATA LOGGER

Tinytag data loggers accurately and reliably monitor temperature, humidity, power usage, CO2 and other environmental parameters. Made in the UK, Tinytags include compact units for indoor use and rugged devices for industrial and outdoor applications.

Tinytags are used extensively in the food industry where it is critical that temperatures are accurately maintained at specified levels and recorded for ongoing verification and proof of due diligence.

Loggers are used to ensure compliance with industry-wide environmental, health and safety regulations, including HACCP measures, throughout the food cycle and the cold chain. Alarms may be sent to specific email and SMS accounts to alert maintenance teams, for example that a cold store’s temperature is rising, or to a plant manager if in-line processes are reaching critical limits. Low cost devices may be packed within container shipments to ensure cold chain integrity is maintained throughout the shipping process.