Every manufacturer including but not limited to food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical has the potential to experience a product recall at some point in time. The cost, not just in monetary terms, but on the business can be devastating and, in some cases, the long-term effects can end in business closures and job losses.

Especially devastating are recalls within the food manufacturing industry. For a company in this industry, a product recall has been calculated to cost anywhere up to $10M in direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs in the recall process such as notifying authorities, product retrieval, product disposal, public relations costs, and investigation into recall are costly and time-consuming whilst the indirect costs, whilst costly can be the most damaging to your business - loss of sales, loss of consumer trust and brand reputation, increased insurance, loss of current and future income, and much more.

How can MARTOR assist us in reducing your risk?

Between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019, Food Standards Australia New Zealand recorded 707 food recalls. Of these, 101 recalls were due to foreign matter entering the production process. (Figure 2) Not surprisingly, the most common types of foreign matter found in food were metal (40%) and plastic (29%).

In direct response to requests from the food industry, MARTOR developed cutting tools made of metal detectable plastic (MDP knives) with paint free stainless steel metal handles. These MDP safety knives and their parts can easily be traced if lost in the production process when used in conjunction with metal detectors, and x-ray machinery.

Although even the smallest particles of the MDP safety knives are detectable, the detectability of knives, parts, and particles is always dependant on the quality and settings of the detectors on-site though. It is, therefore, recommended that to calibrate those as precisely as possible, our MDP test cards are used through any detectors in order to check their sensitivity. Our MDP test card set consists of 5 cards, each of them containing a small ball of a different size (ranging from 2.5 to 8 mm in diameter).

It is also worth noting that although these MDP knives are made using different materials, in many aspects, they are identical to our non-MDP equivalent models in terms of use, functionality, and safety as a tool to reduce cut injuries. They are also suitable for all the same cutting materials.

The detectability of our MDP safety knives has proven itself in daily practice with countless customers. Large companies like Iglo GmbH have been working for years with metal detectable safety knives from MARTOR and, In this video, the Head of Quality Management of the food manufacturer explains why and there is also valuable information on the current MDP-series from MARTOR and how the test cards and detectors interact.

All businesses making or selling consumer products need measures in place to ensure their goods are safe for distribution onto the market. Contact us if you would like further information on our range of metal detectable safety knives.

P: 61 3 5940 4476

E: [email protected]



References:

Food Standards Australia New Zealand


Figure 1: Foreign matter recalls, as a proportion of all foreign matter recalls, during the period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019.


Figure 2: Foreign matter recalls, as a proportion of all foreign matter recalls, during the period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019.