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De Keyser, one of Belgium's top producers of manufactured meats, called upon Loma Systems to help them in maintain their high standards.Metal detectors should ensure that no metal particles contaminated their product.
De Keyser, part of the Remic nv Group, specialisesin the production of sausages, cooked and dried hams, pate, salami and bacon. With three production sites in Europe employing 220 staff andgenerating annual sales worth 45 million euros, Remic NV and more specific De Keyser's products span much further afield than its hometownin Belgium.
Food safety and quality are paramount to De Keyser, so the company called upon Loma Systems in September 2004 to supportthem in maintaining high standards by ensuring no metal particles contaminated their product. By April 2005 the company had a total of three pipeline metal detectors and four conveyor belt metal detectors installed at the Belgian production sites. In addition to this, two conveyor belt detectors were installed at the French site in Lens.
Kris Francoys, Director at De Keyser explained, "Until 2004 we had beenusing a competitor's conveyor belt detectors in our Belgian site which only covered a limited number of our production lines. Since then our company has grown, and we now supply to large retailers, wholesalersand slicing companies. For this reason, coupled with our BRC (BritishRetail Consortium) accreditation, we have to ensure we take all necessary steps to provide quality assured products without the risk of contamination."
Francoys continued, "Before using Loma's machineswe had incidents where some of our slicing customers found metal fragments in our products. For example we use metal clips on a number of our sausage products, so there was always a risk that debris from the clips could fall into the products. It was almost impossible to determine whether the metal was in the products before they reached the customer or whether it came from their slicing tools. We have overcome thisproblem now thanks to Loma's metal detectors."
Loma's pipelinemetal detectors have been installed on both De Keyser's clipped and twisted sausage production lines. On the twisted sausage line, the pipeline detector is attached to a meat stuffer, developed by Loma in partnership with Handtmann, which turns and twists the sausages to close them. There are also conveyor belt metal detectors used on products thatare packed into trays and placed just in front of the labeling line.
Francoys concluded, "We are delighted we chose Loma Systems toassist in our production. They have met all our contaminant detectionrequirements and have helped us reach improved levels of customer satisfaction. We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Loma Systems."
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