Magnets for food manufacturing
Hello,
We are a small bakery producing cookie dough. Previously AIB had accepted our check list of "glass and metal pre shift screening" as a method of foreign material control for GMP (all our ingredients are pre sifted/ strained from our suppliers). However they informed me that the standard has changed as of January 2023, and we need to add a foreign material control device such metal detectors, magnets, strainers, or sifters. The auditor particularly favoured a metal detector, but unfortunately we can not afford one. So I was hoping magnets would be a more affordable solution.
What would be the best application for the magnet? We are working with small batches, and ingredients are limited to flour, sugar, oil, butter, chocolate chips, and a few nuts and seeds.
Also, how would we validate the effectiveness of the magnets? Any other helpful info on the use of magnets would be appreciated.
Your in a tough spot. Magnets work, but they don't pick up everything a metal detector would. If the risk is a metal that is not attracted to a rare earth magnet, the magnet is somewhat pointless.
There is a compliance document out that gives standards for magnet design, strength, pole spacing etc. MAGSEP - its been mentioned several times in this forum. but I could not locate it. possibly here: (MAGNET COMPLIANCE WHITE PAPER. OCT 2022 - Magnattack) The gist is that you want the strongest magnet possible and product as close to the magnet as possible. (>10k gauss and <10 mm)
You can/should use a gauss meter to prove strength over time. And/ Or, a third party can validate your magnet and installation.
You may want to reach out to some magnet suppliers for an application that will work for you. Bunting and Eriez are two mfgs that I have used in the past.
Have you reached out to Mettler or Loma about a refurb? If you ask specifically about that you could save quite a bit, I don't personally feel that a magnet is the right tool for your process as it probably isn't going to work well on your finished good, fine for your inputs, but not for any metal you generate
I know that Fortress Technology also has a large stock of new and used metal detectors. They can also provide rental system.
To ensure that your metal detection procedures are effective and reliable obtain a validation report from an external lab.This would serve as a tangible proof of your commitment to controlling foreign materials, particularly metals, within our production processes.
If you need further help, reach out to Magnattack in MN - They can help with Magnet Validation and testing as per the standard mentioned in an earlier post and provide 3rd party endorsed reporting. They also will provide great Magnet solutions that comply with the standard as well.