Investigation and Identification of Physical Contaminants in Food
Americans spend about $500 billion on food annually.[1] When we consume food or drink, we expect to enjoy it and do not expect to get sick or injured. Ingestion of a piece of a hard or sharp material such as glass or metal could cause an unsuspecting consumer severe injury, require surgery, or have deadly consequences. Therefore, food contamination has always been a major concern of the U.S. government, the food industry, and consumers.
Most physical contaminants of foods, such as pieces of hard plastic or wood, can cause consumers immediate injury; this includes all types of foods, including beverages, bottled water, and nutritional and functional products. Any physical material in food that does not belong in the product may be classified as a physical contaminant.
Physical contaminants are also referred to as physical hazards or foreign matter. Shrew teeth in a crop product or a piece of wire in a meat product are examples. Glass pieces, metal fragments, bone chips, and pits may all cause serious harm when ingested. Common examples of bodily harm include lacerations of the lips, the inside of the mouth, teeth, gums, tongue, throat, esophagus, stomach, and intestine, and even choking. Children and seniors are at greater risk and have the highest incidence of such harm.
Government agencies, food producers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers must all protect the health of the consumer as one of their most important objectives and responsibilities. If there is any evidence or reason to believe there are physical contaminants in a food product that may cause illness or injury to consumers, government agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), reject the food product from sale in the U.S. market or request food recalls.
Huge economic losses to businesses may occur when a physical hazard is discovered. There were 456 food recalls in the U.S. in 2017 and 764 food recalls in 2016, which were announced by FDA and FSIS. Of those, foreign matter caused 42 recalls in 2017 and 44 recalls in 2016.[2,3] According to FSIS,[4] 16.51 million pounds of food were withdrawn from the market following 56 food recalls because of extraneous materials from 2015 to 2017.
Causes of Physical Contamination
Physical contaminants in food could come from either external sources, such as metal fragments, or internal sources, such as bone particles and pits. They can be introduced into food products accidentally during harvesting or at any point during processing due to poor procedural practices anywhere in the food chain, including manufacturing, storage, transportation, or retail. The so-called Dirty Dozen, the 12 most common foreign material contaminants in food, are glass, wood, stones, metal, jewelry, insects/filth, insulation, bone, plastic, personal effects, bullets/BB shot, and needles.[5] Table 1 provides a summary of common sources.
Investigation and Identification of Physical Contaminants
Food companies work hard to keep their products free of contaminants. Investigation and control of physical contaminants in food should be conducted throughout the whole processing chain or in food testing laboratories. With accurate and timely information, a thorough investigation can be carried out in testing laboratories in a cost-effective and efficient manner. It is essential to have a professional investigation team with appropriate resources and equipment to help food company quality assurance staff troubleshoot consumer complaints and answer questions as to what the contaminants and their sources are. It is often necessary to apply integrated, multidimensional approaches for complicated investigations.
Foreign Object Detection Technology Update:
Multiscan Metal Detection