Eagle Product Inspection: Solving the Quality Equation
In many ways, maintaining product quality and protecting brand image is similar to solving a mathematical equation, and product inspection is an essential element of this process. There are a number of variables to take into account before arriving at the appropriate solution for a production line to ensure product quality is upheld. With increasingly savvy consumers driving retailers and brands to demand the highest quality products available, product inspection for meat has moved beyond evaluating the product for contaminants – now flavor, nutritional value and ingredient integrity are equally as important. Advanced x-ray inspection technology has evolved to provide this quality assurance, combining the ability to identify and remove foreign bodies from the production line while delivering accurate fat analysis for the specified ratio of lean to fat and generating documentation at every stage of production to show due diligence, if required.
Finding the Balance between Health and Taste Aside from upholding food safety by minimizing foreign body contamination, an important aspect of meat quality is its nutritional value and flavor. Consumers want the food they buy to be as tasty as possible and will be loyal to brands that consistently deliver this quality. Increasingly, consumers also want their meat to be as nutritionally “guilt-free” as possible, as shown by an increase in the number of healthy and low-fat meat products in supermarkets. For brands looking to target these customers, advanced fat analysis ensures that the meat they buy is at the exact specification they desire in terms of fat and lean levels, providing the first step to producing products that meet these growing health and nutrition demands. Innovations such as Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) offer a non-invasive method to determine the precise Chemical Lean (CL) content for each meat product as it passes down the processing line. In addition, DEXA can inspect for contamination from foreign bodies, such as glass, calcified bone, mineral stones or metal fragments.