17 replies to this topic

[kfromNE]

For SQF.

 

11.7.4.4 Records shall be maintained of the inspection of foreign object detection devices, of any products rejected or removed by them, and of corrective and preventative actions resulting from the inspections.

 

We have a metal detector sheet but what is way to satisfy the code for when products are rejected. Do I need to put something on the metal detector sheet? 

 

 

[Shrimper]

We have taped the piece of foreign material to our metal detectors docs in the past. This is the easiest to keep everything in one place. Usually a copy of the CA is stapled to it as well (we do everything on paper)...

[Setanta]

I would suggest, yes. We have an area where they describe what the item was and what they did with the product and the item.

 

Usually something like Cardboard piece kicked off for metal, or metal piece from sauce dispenser. Showed maintenance and gave item to QA, destroyed the product. 

 

We would track similiar issues and write up corrective actions.

Edited by Setanta, 25 July 2025 - 08:21 PM.

[Tony-C]

We have taped the piece of foreign material to our metal detectors docs in the past. This is the easiest to keep everything in one place. Usually a copy of the CA is stapled to it as well (we do everything on paper)...

 

 You are having a giraffe right?

 

For SQF.

 

11.7.4.4 Records shall be maintained of the inspection of foreign object detection devices, of any products rejected or removed by them, and of corrective and preventative actions resulting from the inspections.

 

We have a metal detector sheet but what is way to satisfy the code for when products are rejected. Do I need to put something on the metal detector sheet? 

 

Hi kfromNE,

 

It is good practice for products rejected or retained by detection systems to be examined to identify the cause of rejection.

 

In the past I have had systems set up so that rejected products go into a locked cage and the rejected products are tested again by QA (or responsible person in production) and then subject to destructive checks to identify the cause of the rejection. Identified causes should be investigated and recorded on your metal detector sheet or an appendix record for recording such information.

 

These checks can provide valuable information about foreign objects arising from raw materials or the production process.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[jfrey123]

Rejected material must be accounted for as part of traceability/production loss.  When I was at a spice plant with MD's in the open product stream, a gate would divert the powder/granules into a second path to a collection bin when a rejection occurred.  At the end of the lot or end of run, we would weigh how much was diverted and then investigate what was found.  We would do the same with full cases through our full case MD, hold to the side and record how many were rejected before investigating.

[Tony-C]

Rejected material must be accounted for as part of traceability/production loss.  

 

Although this clause isn't really about traceability, it is a fair point, quantities should be recorded as well as other unexpected waste from the production run.

 

Monitoring quantities of rejected products can also help identify adverse trends and help identify the potential for more serious issues. The information recorded can also help identify if there are too many false rejects and the if the detector sensitivity settings need looking at.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[GMO]

The way I've done this in the past to satisfy retailer requirements rather than SQF (although the requirement is the same) is to do as Tony says, have it rejected into a locked bin and tested to destruction, normally by halving the item repeatedly and retesting through an offline detector until it's found with a fingertip search of the last pieces.  This was done throughout the shift though not just at the end as metal control is more than just your detector.  Metal detectors are often CCPs or Preventive Controls but they aren't perfect.  They aren't really there to remove metal, well they kind of are but their fallibility and the ease of doing something wrong wilfully or neglectfully means that you really MUST understand where the metal came from to cause a rejection.  The simple reason being that other contaminants might have evaded rejection.

 

There are some retailer standards in the UK which insist on lines being stopped if two metal pieces are found in a shift and if two of the same kind are found, the whole site stopping.  That kind of draconian rule you know is borne out of bitter experience.  But I do know about an issue where the rejects weren't checked properly but there had been an increase in "false" rejects which wasn't acted on.  Turns out they were shaving bits off a mixer and it led to a public recall.

[GMO]

Quick questions for Setanta, SO many questions...  why would cardboard activate a metal detector?  Why would cardboard be in the product?  Why do your examples sound routine?  Why weren't the root causes fixed after one incident?  Why did it need to be tracked before action was taken?

 

Usually something like Cardboard piece kicked off for metal, or metal piece from sauce dispenser. Showed maintenance and gave item to QA, destroyed the product. 

 

We would track similiar issues and write up corrective actions.

[Setanta]

Quick questions for Setanta, SO many questions...  why would cardboard activate a metal detector?  Why would cardboard be in the product?  Why do your examples sound routine?  Why weren't the root causes fixed after one incident?  Why did it need to be tracked before action was taken?

 

 

In an effort to be recycle friendly--we were using a percentage of post consumer recycled cardboard. That is no longer the case.

 

We made a product that sat on a piece of cardboard. It was wrapped at this point, so the first thing we'd do with a metal detector kick off was change out the cardboard, and run the cardboard only through the MD. If the cardboard kicked off, we would rewrap the product with a new cardboard, and run the product with the new cardboard through the metal detector again, twice and let the product go.

 

We were making 65,000 items per day, having 3 kick of ffor metal that was in the cardbaord wasn't outside any of our parameters for manufacturing.We had to get to a certain percentage before our buyers would consider using virgin cardboard or the paper company would consider the circles to be out of spec.

[GMO]

Oh wow.  Must have been staples in there then.  Foil wouldn't normally cause that unless there was A LOT.  But (UK anyway) you only normally see staples in industrial cardboard use?

[Setanta]

Some of what I saw was very small pieces of metal, as though it had run through the shredder. It may have started as a staple, but it ended up a flake in the cardboard.

 

I gathererd that during the recycling process, they were great at separating metal from non-metal. 

[kconf]

Shouldn't the cardboard or any type of packaging materials be food grade to begin with? Why would they have staples or any trace of metal? 

[GMO]

Shouldn't the cardboard or any type of packaging materials be food grade to begin with? Why would they have staples or any trace of metal? 

 

I was imagining it was already wrapped before being on the card but I could be wrong?  If not, I agree, it should be food grade.

[Setanta]

Shouldn't the cardboard or any type of packaging materials be food grade to begin with? Why would they have staples or any trace of metal? 

 

You are right, they should be. In an effort to please customers who recycle, we were using what the manufacturer deemed as food safe product contact cardboard. The metal detector showed why recycled and food grade is a tough thing to manage. And we don't use that anymore

 

You are right, they should be. The metal detector showed why recycled and food grade is a tough thing to manage.

 

The product sat on the cardboard and was then wrapped.

Edited by Setanta, 29 July 2025 - 03:44 PM.

[GMO]

Ouch.  Glad you got rid of it then.  Physical contaminants were only one of your issues.  There was a major case a few years back with mineral oil contamination of breakfast cereals due to recycled content and that was THROUGH a plastic liner.  God I have a strange brain.  This was over 14 years ago believe it or not yet it still lodged in my memory.

 

Health concerns over recycled packaging | The Independent | The Independent

[jfrey123]

Shouldn't the cardboard or any type of packaging materials be food grade to begin with? Why would they have staples or any trace of metal? 

 

Companies who wait until product is fully cased to MD often use standard cardboard boxes for the outer.  This is common in bulk spice handling where a food grade poly liner is filled inside your regular ol' cardboard boxes before heat sealing or zip tied (absolute bane of my existence).  I lost count of the number of times where a box itself was the cause of a rejection due to metal embedded in the fiber of the box.

[G M]

For SQF.

 

11.7.4.4 Records shall be maintained of the inspection of foreign object detection devices, of any products rejected or removed by them, and of corrective and preventative actions resulting from the inspections.

 

We have a metal detector sheet but what is way to satisfy the code for when products are rejected. Do I need to put something on the metal detector sheet? 

 

We use a separate sheet for the material that was rejected.

 

It is fairly simple table, identify which lot it came from, quantify it, state if anything was discovered, and what was done with the material after it was reviewed.  If the materials you deal with have any expected hazards this form gets collected for trend analysis or annual validation.

 

Complicated responses like CAPA can go somewhere else. 

[MaggieB]

At my company, we have columns on our sheet for the total number of rejections, and the number of rejections that still fail a 3x retest. Anything that passes the 3x retest is considered a false rejection, anything that fails on the 3x retest is further investigated with a report written up.