To meet the needs of meat and poultry companies worldwide seeking increasingly integrated solutions for food safety and traceability, Eagle Product Inspection is spotlighting its advanced inspection technologies at the leading international show for the meat industry: IFFA 2019, from 4 to 9 May in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

At IFFA, Eagle (Hall 9.1, A88) will exhibit solutions that deliver on processors’ overriding goals of enhanced food safety/quality and greater traceability while also focusing on crucial details. “Meat and poultry companies need to see the big picture, through integrated systems that help them improve efficiencies and reduce risks. At the same time, they need to be more granular, both in detecting even the smallest contaminants and being able to trace individual products through the production process,” says Mike Stuart, Fat Analysis & Meat Industry Business Lead – EMEA for Eagle Product Inspection. “The onus on meat companies is greater than ever to produce, and prove that they produce, high-quality, safe products.”

According to Stuart, that’s where Eagle’s technologies provide superior solutions, including the latest inspection machinery and accompanying software to achieve traceability down to the individual product image. “From contaminant detection to item level traceability, Eagle delivers the highest level of food safety at every inspection point,” he adds.

At IFFA, Eagle will exhibit several systems that cover a wide range of applications, including new and refined technologies:

• Updated technology! At IFFA 2019, Eagle will showcase its next-generation Material Discrimination X-ray (MDX) technology that delivers 99% accuracy with a resolution that’s three to four times greater than current capabilities. The updated MDX technology, with new detector configurations and advanced algorithms, is incorporated into Eagle’s proprietary SimulTASK PRO image processing software. As part of advanced x-ray systems, the software enables highly reliable bone and contaminant detection in poultry, including the detection of non-bone materials like tendon and quill.
• The Eagle RMI 400, equipped with this refined NexGen MDX technology, will be exhibited at IFFA 2019. The Eagle RMI 400, with a hygienic design that thrives in tough wash-down environments, features an innovative inclined infeed and outfeed conveyor that eliminates the need for radiation-shielding curtains and thus reduces time needed for sanitation cleaning. Used to inspect raw and unpackaged products prior to further processing, the machine is powered by SimulTask PRO software for superior image processing and includes Eagle’s Repository for simple storing, viewing and transferring product information.
• New Meat Carton Application! The Pack 720 PRO with MDX can be used to inspect all cartons of bone-in and boneless meat according to their unique specifications – including different product types –and prevents common carton challenges like mis-labeled and mis-packaged products. Meat and poultry companies also can take advantage of the system’s built-in versatility, through features like a Product Switch that automatically adjusts inspection parameters “on the fly” while the line is running. By scanning a barcode, users can run products with different inspection requirements on the same line by instantly switching to the right set of parameters.
• New! Eagle Pack 240 HC with new item-level traceability is designed for easy sanitation in tough environments like meat and poultry facilities and is used to inspect fresh or frozen products in a variety of packaging formats, such as chubs, overwrapped trays, pouches, cartons, tubs, cups and plastic containers. The machine is equipped with Eagle’s SimulTask PRO imaging processing software that can detect a range of contaminants and conduct important quality checks like mass measurement, component count and missing/broken pieces, among others. The system’s new item-level traceability links inspection data to a unique identifier that is printed on each item, allowing for greater traceability and immediate access to information in the event of a recall or other issue.
• The Eagle FA3/M is a fat analysis x-ray solution that helps red meat slaughterhouses and processors optimize raw material use, comply with end-product specifications and maximize profits. The Eagle FA3/M, which can be part of a whole system solution, provides inline fat measurement and contaminant detection in fresh, chilled, frozen and hot-boned loose, bulk, frozen or tempered meat blocks and unwrapped meats in plastic crates. The machine uses Eagle’s third-generation refinement of Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) technology to discriminate between fat and lean portions of 100% of product throughput, providing CL measurements to better than +/- 1CL accuracy. At IFFA, Eagle will display this system with its optimization software to show how operators can correct a batch on the spot with fat or lean on the screen, depending on the target recipe.

The optional Eagle TraceServer software enables real-time monitoring and archiving of inspection statistics, product images and reports.

• Eagle Pipeline inspects piped products – including ground meats and whole muscle cuts like poultry breasts – prior to processing and/or packaging, removing contaminants to reduce product loss, prevent downstream equipment damage and lower downtime while helping ensure safety. The system includes SimulTask PRO software and the Eagle Repository that allows for a convenient review of production statistics for rejected and manually-saved images.

For more information on Eagle’s technologies highlighted at IFFA 2019 and to schedule an onsite meeting with an Eagle expert, visit http://www.eaglepi.com/iffa-2019