Labelling quality issues can be solved with smarter equipment

The last thing you want when purchasing a ready-made wrap or sandwich at a store or petrol station is an ingredient that has already gone out of date. Not only is it against food regulations, it poses a potential risk to public health.

Fortunately this sort of incident is rare. However, earlier this month the Food Standards Agency found that a company had not produced food products in accordance with the labelling requirements. 

Not only were some of the ingredients used to manufacture the ready-to-go meals nearing their use-by-date, one ingredient, that needed to be cooked, was being presented as ready-to-eat. This presented a potentially significant safety risk for consumers. 

These products, which were being sold in retail stores, were not compliant with food law requirements and had to be recalled and disposed of. This was not only a loss for the company in question but for every other business distributing the products. 

Food manufacturers everywhere have to produce goods in accordance with food standards and many of the issues that cause noncompliance, such as poor labelling or rejection of bad ingredients, are easily solved with the right equipment. 

General Manager of Sparc Systems, Mark James, said: “In a fast-paced, strictly regulated industry mistakes can happen and without the right technology and systems in place they become increasingly hard to prevent. A long-term investment in proven equipment and cutting-edge tech can go a long way to future-proofing against any errors of this nature.”

Sparc System’s label inspection technology, Sparc Eye, inspect products from both the top and bottom of the pack. The technology is available in combination with check-weighing, x-ray or metal inspection, providing a comprehensive machine that adds speed and precision to production lines. 

The Theia, a combination X-ray, checkweigher and label inspection machine, for example,  can catch inaccuracies in product labelling, checkweigh and x-ray bulk loads at a remarkable rate of 200 packs per minute. This, along with its central reporting system for all food safety topics, ensures a serious issue – like the one above – does not happen. 

Learn more about Theia here.