Glass Packaging Poses Challenges, Advanced X-ray Systems Deliver Solutions

While there has been a move from glass to plastic packaging materials across many CPG categories in recent years, many products are still packaged in glass containers and bottles, from sodas to sauces to a range of non-food products, including pharmaceutical items. Glass poses its own set of challenges for manufacturers striving to maintain quality and safety, both in potential contaminants and in the efficacy of product inspection.

Inherently, glass can pose challenges and risks because of the nature of the material and the possibility of glass fragments or shards contaminating the inside product. To prevent damage to the consumer and stay compliant with food safety regulations, manufacturers can deploy advanced inspection systems to find and reject glass-in-glass contaminants.

Although all x-ray machines from Eagle Product Inspection are equipped to detect glass, in addition to other foreign bodies, Eagle offers machines that are ideal for manufacturers that package their product in glass. Eagle’s QuadView system, for example, provides superior x-ray detection and rejection of glass shards or pieces within glass containers, with four-view detection coverage and a capacity to scan products at line rates over 1000 PPM. Eagle’s recently-launched Tall PRO XSDV detects unwanted glass in food, beverages, pet food and personal/pharmaceutical care products packaged in tall, rigid containers, as well as stand up pouches, plastic containers, and cartons and boxes, in a compact footprint.

Eagle’s x-ray systems overcome other issues common with glass packaging. “Jars tend to be a big challenge. Because there are blind areas or corners and the containers can go from round to square or octagonal, we have to be more aggressive in the way we inspect those types of products,” explains Johselyn Casillas, Applications Engineer for Eagle Product Inspection. “The QuadView, for example, offers an angled view to each corner, which can deal with the geometry of the container.”

In addition, high performing x-ray machines can overcome challenges in product variation, which can make it tough to find foreign bodies in cereals and nuts and in jars with varying product temperatures and salinity, such as pickles. Eagle’s versatile detection systems provide other important functions that benefit manufacturers of products packaged in glass, including fill level, component count and package integrity.

About Eagle Product Inspection

As pioneers in x-ray inspection technology, Eagle Product Inspection is enhancing the physical contamination detection and quality inspection capabilities of food and pharmaceutical manufacturers worldwide. Our food inspection solutions cover a wide range of industries including dairy, confectionery, bakery, fruits and vegetables, poultry, red meat, snacks, ready meals for packaged products, bulk, carton boxes, pouches, tall rigid containers, trays or unpackaged products.

To learn more about Eagle’s full spectrum of x-ray technologies, visit https://www.eaglepi.com.