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FA-XIS Food X-ray Inspection Systems: Uncovering Hidden Contaminants in Packaged Foods

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FA-XIS Food X-ray Inspection Systems: Uncovering Hidden Contaminants in Packaged Foods

 
For packaged food manufacturers, metal detectors only address part of the safety challenge—they fail to detect non-metallic contaminants like glass, stone, hard plastic, and rubber fragments that can trigger costly recalls and erode consumer trust. This is why PackagedFood Global, a leading European packaged food producer with 9 production lines across 2 facilities, partnered with Shanghai Fanchi-tech Machinery Co., Ltd. to deploy our FA-XIS Food X-ray Inspection Systems—engineered to detect both metallic and non-metallic contaminants in packaged foods, ensuring uncompromising safety and compliance for retail-ready products.
 

 

 

The Challenge: Hidden Contamination Risks in Packaged Food Production

 
PackagedFood Global produces 75,000+ packaged food items daily, including frozen meals, snack bars, ready-to-eat salads, and foil-wrapped convenience foods, sold across 15 EU countries and the UK. Its production relies on stainless-steel processing equipment, glass packaging components, and plastic sealing tools—all prone to shedding tiny fragments during routine wear. In 2025, a customer complaint about a 1.8mm glass fragment in a frozen pasta meal triggered a mandatory recall, costing PackagedFood €62,000 in direct expenses, lost retailer shelf space, and brand reputation damage.
 
Their existing inspection system had critical limitations:
 

  • Blind to Non-Metallics: Standard metal detectors could not detect glass, stone, hard plastic, or rubber fragments, leaving 38% of contamination risks unaddressed.
  • Foil & Complex Packaging Barriers: For foil-wrapped and multi-layer packaged products, metal detectors were either blinded or produced high false reject rates, forcing manual spot-checks that slowed production by 22%.
  • Inadequate Compliance Support: Meeting EU 178/2002, BRC, and UK food safety standards required time-consuming manual record-keeping, with no real-time contamination data for continuous improvement.

 
“Packaged foods are our core business, and consumer trust is everything,” says Sophie Laurent, PackagedFood’s Quality Director. “Metal detectors couldn’t protect our customers from non-metallic contaminants, and manual checks were unsustainable for our high-speed lines. We needed a system that could see all contaminants—metal and non-metal—through any packaging, without slowing us down.”
 

 

The Solution: FA-XIS Food X-ray Inspection Systems for Packaged Foods

 
After testing 4 competitors, PackagedFood selected Fanchi-tech’s FA-XIS for its advanced imaging technology, packaging-adaptive design, and compliance-ready features. Here’s how the FA-XIS solved their critical pain points:
 

1. Comprehensive Contaminant Detection for All Packaged Foods

 
The FA-XIS uses high-resolution X-ray imaging (0.1mm pixel resolution) and AI-powered image analysis to detect a full spectrum of contaminants in packaged foods, regardless of packaging type (foil, plastic, multi-layer, or rigid):
 

  • Metallic Contaminants: Ferrous, non-ferrous, and stainless-steel fragments as small as 0.3mm (from processing blades, conveyor wear, and sealing tools).
  • Non-Metallic Contaminants: Glass (0.5mm), stone (0.6mm), hard plastic (0.7mm), and rubber fragments (0.8mm) (from packaging components, equipment seals, and processing tools).
  • Product Integrity Checks: Missing components, underfilled packages, damaged packaging, and incorrect product placement—adding quality control to safety inspection.

 
For PackagedFood’s 220g foil-wrapped frozen pasta line, the FA-XIS detected 100% of test contaminants (metal, glass, and hard plastic) during on-site validation—eliminating the blind spots of metal detectors and the need for manual unpacking.
 

2. High-Speed Integration & Minimal Downtime

 
The FA-XIS’s 304 stainless-steel frame and IP65-rated, crevice-free design integrate seamlessly with PackagedFood’s 140-packs-per-minute packaging lines. Its intuitive touchscreen control panel stores pre-programmed settings for 28 packaged SKUs, allowing operators to switch between frozen meals, snack bars, and ready-to-eat salads in 22 seconds (down from 11 minutes with their old system). The unit’s automatic pneumatic reject system removes contaminated products in real time, with no line stoppage—maintaining production efficiency and reducing downtime.
 

3. Compliance-Ready & Hygienic Design

 
The FA-XIS is engineered to meet global packaged food safety standards:
 

  • Certifications: CE, FCC, BRC Grade A, and EU 178/2002 compliant.
  • Hygiene: IP65-rated, crevice-free stainless-steel build withstands daily high-pressure washdowns, with no hidden areas for bacteria growth—critical for packaged food facilities with strict sanitation protocols.
  • Data Traceability: Built-in data logging stores 120,000+ inspection records (contaminant type, location, time, product SKU, and packaging type) for audit compliance and continuous quality improvement.

 
PackagedFood’s BRC auditors noted the FA-XIS’s traceability features “streamlined compliance checks and reduced audit preparation time by 35%.”
 

 

The Outcome: 100% Contamination Capture & Zero Recalls

 
In the 7 months since installing 5 FA-XIS units:
 

  • 29 Critical Contaminant Catches: The FA-XIS detected 0.3–0.8mm contaminants (13 metal, 7 glass, 6 hard plastic, 3 rubber) in packaged products, preventing 5 potential recalls and an estimated €78,000 in costs.
  • 100% Elimination of Non-Metallic Blind Spots: Non-metallic contamination incidents dropped to zero, with no customer complaints related to glass, plastic, or stone fragments.
  • 22% Faster Production Speed: The elimination of manual unpacking and fast SKU switchovers increased line efficiency by 22%, adding 10 hours of daily production capacity.
  • 94% Reduction in False Rejects: The FA-XIS’s AI-powered analysis minimized false rejects to 0.5%, saving 1,400+ kg of packaged product monthly and reducing waste by €1,900 monthly.

 
“The FA-XIS didn’t just upgrade our inspection—it transformed our entire packaged food safety program,” says Laurent. “We now have complete visibility into every packaged product, and our retail partners and consumers trust us more than ever.”
 

 

Why Fanchi-tech’s FA-XIS Is the Gold Standard for Packaged Food Inspection

 
For brands like PackagedFood Global, the FA-XIS delivers more than inspection—it provides:
 

  • Packaging-Adaptive Detection: Performs reliably through foil, plastic, multi-layer, and rigid packaging, with no blind spots.
  • Comprehensive Contaminant Coverage: Detects both metallic and non-metallic contaminants, plus product integrity checks for packaged foods.
  • Global Compliance: Meets EU, BRC, and international food safety standards, with full traceability for audit readiness.
  • 24/7 Global Support: Local service teams in Europe, the UK, and Asia, plus a 2-year warranty and fast spare parts delivery.
  • Scalable Design: Easy to integrate with existing packaged food lines or expand as production grows, with modular configurations for diverse packaged product types.

 

 

Secure Your Packaged Food Lines Today

 
If you’re a packaged food manufacturer struggling with non-metallic contamination risks, packaging-related inspection challenges, or compliance inefficiencies, contact Kerry Wang to arrange a free virtual demo or on-site trial of the FA-XIS Food X-ray Inspection System. We’ll test the unit with your specific packaged products to validate performance for your line speed and SKU mix.
 
Shanghai Fanchi-tech Machinery Co., Ltd.