Good morning,
I came in this morning to find out that a chunk (have not yet seen how large) of the stainless steel die on the corner of our extruder came off. This was found during pre-operational inspections. I'm told the piece of steel was found and fitted to the missing area and they were a perfect match (as far as we can tell). They took the die out, filed down the sharp corners and are cleaning and sanitizing it along with the rest of the extruder prior to starting operations.
We do not have a metal detector or x-ray machine.
Given no metal detector or x-ray, are there any steps that we could/should be taking that we're not thinking of in order to ensure we are operating at the highest level of safety possible?
In my head, we should be looking at obtaining a new die because small pieces could be chipping off and it would be nearly impossible for us to tell - am I headed in the right direction with that thought? If I am right, I don't see management being too happy with that - what are other reasons to get a new one? Could the chunk out somehow be more of a harbor for microbial growth if it's still stainless steel and we're still cleaning and sanitizing the whole thing?
Thanks in advance,
~Emily~