FlexXray has published its 2025 Foreign Material Contamination in Food Benchmark Report. Based on survey responses from more than 160 food safety and manufacturing professionals across North America, the report offers a data-driven look into how the industry is addressing foreign material contamination.

Foreign material contamination remains one of the most frequent and costly disruptions in food production, yet industry responses vary widely. FlexXray’s benchmark report reveals that 73 percent of producers experience foreign material events multiple times per year, but less than 20 percent of producers are very confident in their in-line technology’s ability to detect all foreign material.

Additionally, one-third of respondents continue to rely on in-house resources to manage foreign material events, despite low confidence in detection capabilities.

The report provides the first clear, industry-wide snapshot of how often foreign material contamination happens and how facilities are responding, giving food safety and manufacturing leaders data they can use to benchmark their own operations and uncover opportunities to strengthen their food safety programs.