Mettler-Toledo Reveals Innovative Solutions for Product Safety at Emballage

New rigorous food and pharmaceutical safety standards have come into force in 2012 with more to be introduced over the next few years to safeguard consumer welfare from the threat of foreign body contamination and counterfeit products.

It is vital that food and pharmaceutical manufacturers enhance control and security of their production lines to comply with global and local regulations and demonstrate due diligence to protect the end consumer and uphold brand reputation.

At Emballage Packaging Exhibition in Paris, France, 19-22 November 2012, Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection Division will showcase its innovative solutions to ensure food and pharmaceutical product safety in Hall 5a, booth E029.

At the booth, Mettler-Toledo will demonstrate how its range of x-ray, metal detection, checkweighing and vision inspection technology can enhance contaminant detection and optimize traceability and label inspection.

This is important to comply with strict new regulations for food safety and pharmaceutical serialization, reducing the risk of reputation-damaging product recalls and counterfeit goods, safeguarding consumer welfare.

Mettler-Toledo has recently launched a number of innovations in metal detection and x-ray technology that it will be showcasing at Emballage Packaging Exhibition.

These technologies are designed to inspect food and pharmaceutical products for contamination from foreign bodies, including ferrous and non-ferrous metal as well as glass, stone, bone, high-density plastics and rubber.

The company has also developed vision inspection technology to verify whether food and pharmaceutical packaging is labelled in compliance with relevant industry safety standards.

This includes ensuring the correct label is applied, as well as bar codes and 2D matrix codes, to enhance track and trace capability. This is important for pharmaceutical products, to help combat the rise in counterfeit drugs.

All technologies guarantee the safety of the food and pharmaceutical supply chain and enable brand owners to demonstrate due diligence at every point in their production line from processing to packaging and transportation.

At Emballage, Mettler-Toledo Safeline X-Ray will showcase its newly-launched X3310 x-ray system for the first time. This next generation of x-ray technology offers the same level of detection power as traditional x-ray systems with just a fifth of the energy consumption, optimizing food safety while maximizing manufacturing efficiency and profitability for brand owners.

The business unit will also display the InspireX2 R40C500, an x-ray system specifically for medium- to large-sized packaged products.

This offers food and pharmaceutical manufacturers high-speed precision foreign body detection and inspection for other quality defects, including fill level, seal integrity and checking for missing items, such as safety leaflets, to further ensure consumer well-being.

The new Profile Select from Mettler-Toledo Safeline Metal Detection developed to enhance metal detection for wet and conductive products will also be on display at booth E029.

Its Variable Frequency Technology automatically selects the optimum detection frequency to overcome the “product effect” caused by electrical signals induced in the product as it passes through the machine without compromising contaminant detection sensitivity.

The system’s automated set up allows it to inspect new and varied products, guaranteeing food safety while boosting production line flexibility.

Mettler-Toledo Garvens will feature its XS2 MV checkweigher for pharmaceutical production lines. The machine combines precision weighing, marking, and vision verification of batch codes and expiry dates in one system to comply with global traceability and fraud protection standards as well as metrology legislation. Its reduced footprint makes it ideal for manufacturers with limited factory floor space.

New vision inspection technology from Mettler-Toledo CI-Vision capable of examining packaging labels for correct information, placement and legibility will also be showcased.

As well as enabling manufacturers to comply with strict labelling regulations, the display of clear and accurate ingredient information ensures consumer safety from allergens or unsuitable dosage.

Recently-acquired Pharmacontrol Electronic Gmbh (PCE) will also demonstrate its comprehensive track and trace and serialization solutions for every step of the pharmaceutical packaging line.

Its specialized vision inspection technology marks and tracks all units as they move through the production line, including single cartons, bottles and vials, bundles, shipping cases and palettes, ensuring full traceability and compliance with industry regulations as well as brand protection against counterfeit products.

To demonstrate how brand owners can fully integrate their product inspection system to improve data monitoring efficiency, Mettler-Toledo will be exhibiting its ProdX data monitoring software.

Capable of connecting Mettler-Toledo metal detection, x-ray and checkweighing systems to collect productivity data in a central location, including product rejection incidents and fill level monitoring, ProdX improves ease of use for manufacturers.

All of Mettler-Toledo’s systems guarantee precision, high-speed product inspection, enabling food, beverage and pharmaceutical manufacturers to meet and demonstrate compliance with increasingly stringent safety and quality regulations while maximizing production line efficiency.