Swancote Foods Ups Quality and Safety with New X-Ray Machine

British potato processor Swancote Foods has recently installed one of Ishida’s IX-GN 4043 X-ray inspection systems. The company is part of the Produce Investments group and a sister company of Greenvale AP, one of the country’s top supplier of fresh potatoes.

Swancote Foods converts fresh potatoes into high quality prepared potato ingredients for other food manufacturing companies. The IX-GN has been installed for its versatility and ability to spot the smallest contaminants as well as any build-up of scale that occurs during the cooking process itself.

The x-ray system enables the machine to easily detect specific contaminants. In addition, it is able to handle different sizes of diced potato including potatoes with skins on, with individual detection parameters pre-programmed into the machine for easy changeovers. While it is primarily used to monitor diced potatoes, the machine is also capable of handling alternative sizes if required.

Prior to the installation of the new system, Swancote Foods has used a metal detector for its quality inspection procedures, but this new installation provides a further enhanced level of food safety.

“Spotting small foreign bodies in bulk continuous product is very difficult for metal detectors,” explains Swancote Foods’ Engineering Manager Andrew Baxter.

Another important benefit of the system is its robust washdown design and easy-to-remove conveyor, which enables the machine to cope with the regular dairy cleaning that is part of Swancote Foods’ hygiene regime. The IX-GN is in operation 16 hours a day, five days per week, handling up to four tons of product per hour.