The highly integrable solution for the inspection of powders and granules. Thanks to digital signal analysis, it offers an exclusive detection capability for magnetic and non-magnetic metals, including stainless steel. Constructed from AISI 316L stainless steel, it withstands high-pressure washdown and ensures full compliance with FDA 21CFR Part 11 regulations. Its extreme speed allows it to divert contaminants without slowing down the production flow, ensuring maximum safety, integrity, and operational traceability.
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Snacks, Pasta, Biscuits and Bakery
CEIA metal detectors guarantee maximum food safety in the production of snacks, pasta, and baked goods. Thanks to the exclusive Multi-Spectrum Technology, THS systems overcome the product effect of metallized films, eliminating false alarms. With gravity fall configurations for powders and bulk goods, conveyor solutions, and ATEX-certified versions for explosive atmospheres, CEIA ensures high-sensitivity inspection.
Detecting Metallic Contaminants in Snacks, Pasta, Biscuits & Bakery Production
Ensuring the absence of physical contaminants is a fundamental requirement for food safety in snacks, pasta, biscuits, and bakery production. Among potential hazards, metallic contamination represents one of the most critical risks that must be effectively controlled. Metal fragments can originate from processing equipment, mixing and forming systems, cutting tools, or packaging lines, making advanced detection technologies essential to protect consumers and maintain brand integrity.
Sources of Metal Contamination
In industrial snacks, pasta, biscuits, and bakery production, manufacturing processes involve multiple mechanical operations such as mixing, extrusion, sheeting, cutting, baking, and conveying. Over time, the normal wear and tear of mixers, extruders, rollers, ovens, and conveyors can result in the release of small metal particles. In addition, raw ingredients may occasionally introduce contaminants originating from upstream processes.
As these fragments are often extremely small and difficult to detect visually—especially in products with complex textures or varying densities—automated inspection systems play a crucial role in identifying and removing contaminated products before distribution.
Metal detection in snacks, pasta, biscuits, and bakery applications can be implemented at different stages of the production process, depending on the product format and process flow. Gravity-fed systems are typically installed on vertical product flows, such as bulk powders, granules, or small particulate products (e.g., flour, sugar, grains, dry pasta). In these configurations, the product passes through the detector by gravity, allowing for high sensitivity levels due to the uniform and consistent flow. When contamination is detected typically the Metal Detector stops the processing line to consent the removal of contamination (THS/G21 series).
Conveyor-based systems are used for finished or semi-finished products transported horizontally, including packaged snacks, biscuits, baked goods, or pasta products. These systems integrate a metal detector with a conveyor belt and an automatic rejection mechanism, such as a pusher, air blast, or retracting belt. They are particularly suitable for inspecting products after packaging, ensuring that final goods meet safety standards before distribution.
The choice between gravity-fed and conveyor-based inspection depends on several factors, including product type, production stage, packaging format, and required sensitivity levels. In many facilities, both solutions are implemented at different critical control points to ensure comprehensive protection.
An additional key function of metal detection systems is the protection of downstream equipment. Early identification of metallic contaminants helps prevent damage to sensitive machinery such as slicers, packaging units, and sealing systems, ensuring production continuity and reducing downtime.
Challenges in Snacks, Pasta, Biscuits & Bakery Processing Environments
Detecting metal contaminants in Snacks, Pasta, Biscuits & Bakery presents specific technical challenges.
CEIA offers both entry-level metal detection solutions (THS/21ET) and the most advanced technologies on the market (THS/21), capable of detecting even the smallest metallic contaminants on dry neutral products.
Snacks, Pasta, Biscuits & Bakery are often packaged in metalized films which affects the sensitivity of detection equipment. Exclusively developed by CEIA, MULTI-SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY (MS21 and MS210) is a unique metal detection technology that both optimises sensitivity to all metal contaminants and minimizes product effect in products packaged in metalized films. The detection stability in these conditions can be improved thanks to CEIA exclusive BKG-A Autolearn function able to enrich previously acquired product characteristics with additional data to eliminate residual product effect and false alarms.
Periodic testing of the metal detector with certified test samples by operators is also an aspect that must be considered, due to the time required to perform this activity, especially in applications involving multi-head weighers and bagmakers: CEIA AUTO-QC™ TEST provides a digital and effective calibration check along with a 0÷100% programmable reduction of the manual verifications, resulting in a corresponding reduction of labour cost, accidental product contamination and product waste.
CEIA Metal Detectors are available also in ATEX-compliant configurations, ensuring safe and reliable operation in hazardous environments with potentially explosive atmospheres.