Since 1979, Earth Animal has been setting new benchmarks for the pet industry. Their wholesome chews, treats, dog food, healing supplements, and remedies are made with pure, fresh, and sustainable ingredients. To help meet their high-quality requirements, Earth Animal’s “Riverstone” facility in Westminster, Md., added a new梅特勒-托利多Safeline X33 x射线检测系统mwhile they were renovating and expanding.
“我们的宠物食品是用真实的，整个食物和天然成分制成的 - 这些引入了外国物质风险。像鹅卵石和壳碎片这样的东西并不罕见。我们非常谨慎地小心，没有异物进入最终包装的产品，“莱佛塞总经理和共同主人凯莉莱默说。“我们的新X33 X射线系统有助于我们每一天实现这一目标。”
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See what key stakeholders in the pet food arena are saying about目前的趋势在可持续性that are affecting pet food processors and packaging professionals.
Earth Animal’s Riverstone facility primarily produces Earth Animal’s Dr. Bob Goldstein’s Wisdom® brand of dog food. It’s packaged in four-sided, gusseted stand-up bags made ofBraskem's sugarcane-based I’m green™ Polyethylene (PE) biopolymer。袋子重1,3或10磅。
The gusseted stand-up bags are made of sugarcane-based I’m green PE biopolymer.
“Earth Animal has always been passionate about how, why, and what we do, and for us, we have felt that sustainability is a major part of our DNA,” says Stephanie Volo, VP of Marketing and Sustainability for Earth Animal. “Incorporating the I’m green PE biopolymer material into our Wisdom Dog Food packaging was a natural fit given each company’s commitment to sustainability. We couldn’t be happier with the result.”
Riverstone also produces pet treats in conventional stand-up pouches weighing between 4 and 7 oz. AHytrol movable roller conveying systemallows either of Riverstone’s two primary packaging lines to feed into the new inline X33 x-ray system at a rate of 18 to 20 bags/min. Packages that don’t pass inspection are automatically removed from the line with a pneumatic reject device, also from Mettler-Toledo.
“We added x-ray inspection while renovating and expanding our facility,” says Nick Stalder, Production Manager at Riverstone. “Our sales rep, Dick DeNenno at Reliant Packaging Machinery, encouraged us to go with x-ray inspection instead of metal detection for our application. In addition to detecting metal, our x-ray system can identify stones and shells and other foreign bodies you wouldn’t want your pet to eat. The X33 provides us with the confidence that our products are free from foreign materials.”
‘Particularly challenging’
“我们的狗粮对于检验设备特别具有挑战性，因为它就像散步混合，含有干肉，水果，蔬菜和我们专有的生命力的立方体™，它含有维生素，矿物质，谷物，干果和发芽的种子。在Riverstone的质量保证 - 质量控制经理Claire Farrell说，有这么多的小块，具有不同的密度和水分。“X33能够适应所有这些微小差异。您实际上可以在运行它们时看到屏幕上的每个成分。它的敏感性非常令人印象深刻。“
加载新设置，校准，运行验证测试只需要五分钟，并开始运行X射线系统。梅特勒 - 托利多的X33 X射线系统实现了与上一代SmartChek和Advanchek型号相同的出色检测灵敏度，但使用20瓦的发电机来消耗电力的五分之一。“我们喜欢这个系统是如此节能，”拉塞尔说。“可持续发展是我们在地球动物的各种决定中的巨大部分。我们考虑了我们产品各方面的可持续性 - 从我们的全球动物合作伙伴关系（GAP）达到的肉类和较高的蔬菜到我们的包装等。重要的是，我们的X射线系统适合我们的环境承诺。“
“卫生也是我们永远不想吝啬的东西。这就是为什么我们寻找设计的系统，用于干洗和易于维护，“Riverstone的设施工程师Carl Hammond说。“因为我们只是运行成品包装的商品，X33只需要干净干净，然后在输送机上进行消毒剂。其卫生设计的设计改善了设备卫生，同时减少了停机时间来支持我们的整体运营效率。“
Riverstone changes over their X33 to handle a new product or package multiple times a day. It takes only five minutes to load the new settings, calibrate, run validation tests, and start running. Test standards are sent through at the beginning and end of every run, as well as every hour, to ensure accuracy. “We have never had a test standard fail to be rejected—the system works perfectly,” says Farrell.
“Overall, this is an extremely solid piece of equipment. We’ve had 100 percent uptime with our X33 so far,” says Stalder “We haven’t needed to talk to Mettler-Toledo’s customer service or use our maintenance plan because it’s been so reliable. Even installation was just a matter of plugging it in and setting up product programs and standards.”
“Our X33 x-ray system has already paid for itself by delivering information about our raw ingredients. We were able to set benchmarks and request refinements from our suppliers,” says Raiser. “The biggest thing for us as a company is knowing that our final product is up to our high food safety and quality principles. After our experiences with the X33, I never want to run another packaging line without this technology. The level of scrutiny it provides us is incredible.”
