Quality Control Of A Canning Industry: What You Should Be Doing To Avoid Shutdown
Canning companies often process and cook produce in the same factory where the food is canned. As such, you are required by state law to pass several quality and safety control measures and inspections each and every year. This includes inspections involving your can seamers, which are responsible for keeping bugs and pests out of the canned food and preventing spoilage. Here is what your factory workers need to be doing regularly to make sure the factory passes inspection and avoids a shutdown of the factory until standards are met.
Watch Cans Going Past the Can Seamers
Any cans that are not fully upright heading into the can seamer are not going to end up with lids properly sealed on top of the cans. This creates open cans or cans that are mashed and leaking food. Employees standing and watching the filled cans going into the seamer need to grab and right any cans that are slightly or completely tipped over. If the conveyor line is moving slowly enough, this task is easy to do.
Additionally, cans coming away from the seamer require quality control spotters as well. Despite automation technology, not all cans coming away from the seamer may be successfully sealed. Any incomplete cans need to be removed immediately from the line and tossed into a quality control bin.
Check Your Quality Control Bins
The quality control bins exist as a means of containing all faulty cans of the produce until the cans can be examined. Sometimes the issues are rather consistent, which can mean that there are issues in the disposal of the cans onto the conveyor belt, or there are problems after the cans have been filled. Sometimes the issues have nothing in common to do with each other, which may indicate a problem with the seamer or issues with an inattentive employee. After the problem has been diagnosed and addressed, these canned goods with their faulty lids are disposed of in accordance with state food regulations and laws.
Fixing Machines or Seamers
If and when you discover that any machine along the line is faulty, it must be fixed promptly. If the problem is your seamer, then it may be time to replace it. Continuing to use a can seamer that has to be repaired and recalibrated only continues to extend your quality control issues, and a lot of food, time, and money are wasted.
Share