Meat + Poultry - February 2004 - 34

Process control

A product increases in value at each step in the process, so
monitoring the process and bringing it back into control before
any sub-standard materials are produced is good business. Process control, not testing, is the best tool for protecting products,
capital investments and customers.
Statistics show waste amounts can range as high as 35 percent of sales dollars generated in the food industry. Waste may be
defined as many things, but the bottom line is it means something
was not done right the first time and must be done again, which
costs money. Process control, not more testing, is the best option
for all. With this in mind, we can concentrate on the all-important
element of continual improvement.

tems to enhance quality and safety, streamline operations and meet
the requirements of a demanding market.
Metal mania
Metal detection is a hot topic in today's meat processing environment. Many buyers, especially those representing fast-food and other foodservice operations, mandate that any product sold to them be
metal detected as part of the process.
There are cases, however, in which buyers have shown a lack of
understanding of food and ingredient processing, but the demands
are real. For example, a processor of edible oils once told me his
buyers wanted the oil to go through a metal-detection process. He

Process control, not testing, is the best tool for
protecting products, capital investments and customers.
The processing technologies that are available to today's meat
processors were unheard of many years ago and are evolving. Operations that accept the status quo and do not change will lag behind
more innovative competitors and cease to exist. Metal detectors, Xray scanners, sorters, checkweighers, computerized scales, biosensors and infrared scanners are common in food plants. The new generation systems are as far ahead of their predecessors as a new car
is of the old Model T. Operators are demanding more of these sys-

had to fight hard to get the buyer to accept that the filtration systems
they already had in place would assure that foreign materials were
not an issue.
Many operators who have initiated hazard analysis and critical
control point programs have also established metal detection as a
critical control point. There are others who have been told by buyers
that metal detection "will" be a critical control point, even if the processor does not believe metal is a significant hazard.

New uni MPB Single Link Belt

™

The most innovative plastic modular conveyor belt
for the meat & poultry industries
One link does it all

2" pitch
New uni MPB Single Link Belt ™
Standard widths 18", 20" and 24"

Traditional modular belts
are often connected with 4
or more links to reach the
desired belt width. This
creates joints in the belt
surface where microscopic
bacteria can grow.
The uni Single Link belt
eliminates this problem!

simple to clean
no joints
easy to maintain
knives and similar implements
can be used directly on the belt
- meets the growing demands
from the meat and poultry
industry

www.unichains.com

uni-chains Manufacturing Inc., 500 Brentwood Drive, Reading, PA 19611, USA
Tel: (610)-372-1800, Tel: (800)-937-2864, Fax: (610)-372-3590, e-mail: sales@unichains.com
For more information, see ad index on Page 69

MEAT&POULTRY

www.MEATPOULTRY.com

FEBRUARY 2004

http://www.unichains.com http://www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Meat + Poultry - February 2004

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - February 2004