The recent product recall announced by Mars, Incorporated*, because a small piece of plastic was found by a consumer in a chocolate bar, highlights the difficulty of detecting rogue pieces of plastic that inadvertently contaminate foodstuffs during their production.
Many food and beverage products on supermarket shelves are household names and their brand reputation depends on assured safety and hygiene processes.
“HellermannTyton has been working in collaboration with leading food and beverage manufacturers over the past decade to improve the detectability of plastic parts used in their production plants, so that the risk of contamination posed by plastic cable accessories fitted around production lines can be managed,” said Thomas Tyll, Head of European Product Management at HellermannTyton. “Consequently, we were the first company to supply the market with detectable cable ties made from plastic with metal content, and we continue to lead the way with next generation of detectable cable accessory solutions.”
HellermannTyton now manufactures a complete range of professional cable accessories made from plastic with metal content, which can be detected by the metal detection and x-ray equipment food and beverage producers commonly use in their control points.
“The even dispersion of metal particles throughout our products means that small fragments of cable ties, fixing mounts or cable covers, that might be cut or damaged during maintenance, can be easily detected before potentially reaching consumers and catapulting a food manufacturer into the media spotlight,” said Tyll.
For example, metal content cable management solutions such as HellermannTyton’s MCTS detectable cable ties are detectable from a ferrous sphere setting of 1.0 mm to 3.4 mm using industry-accepted measurement techniques.
* Source: “Mars Chocolate Issues Voluntary Recall”:
http://www.mars.com/global/press-center/press-list/news-releases.aspx?SiteId=94&Id=7017
Further information about the complete range of HellermannTyton Detectable Products for Food and Beverage Production is available to download as a brochure in PDF format.