Checking reject mechanism with many test packs

We have a chicken loaf line that passes nine pieces through the metal detector at a time. The reject mechanism (retracting conveyor and reject bin) is supposed to capture all nine pieces. Currently, production is placing the nine pieces in a bag to make this easier, but this doesn't verify that all nine pieces would be rejected during normal operation. Is there another way to streamline this procedure or are we stuck staging all nine pieces to pass each wand three times? This is of course very time consuming and difficult for the CCP operator.

If you don't have the pieces separate and free on the belt but rather have them in a bag, how can you be sure that the reject mechanism is reliably catching all 9?

 

Why does it HAVE to be nine?  Is this a belt?  Are these essentially "nuggets" or are these larger pieces?  What sort of reject mechanism is being used to remove these items from the product stream? is this a continuous stream or is it intermittent (moved 9 pieces through as a group, then 9 more, etc.)? Do you make up a "test" chicken loaf with a test wand imbedded inside it for the "most challenging presentation" to the detector? Do you vary the position of the test piece in the set of 9 pieces?  Does the position of the test piece in the group  (top, bottom, middle, etc) make any difference in the reliability of the rejection of the group?

 

Personally, I think that if you are expecting the equipment to reliably reject 9 freely flowing pieces at once, you need to test 9 freely flowing pieces (including the test wad-o-chicken) at once.  If not, how can you say with a high degree of certainty that the equipment will reject the pieces or pieces with the contaminant?

Where did you go, Quechers??  Was there any resolution to this issue?