Protecting canned goods

Alex Rivers reports on Mettler-Toledo’s webinar about X-ray inspection in high-speed canning applications.

Hosted on 22 January 2025 by Adam Green, market manager at Mettler-Toledo Safeline X-Ray, Mettler-Toledo’s webinar on ‘Superior Inspection of Canned Goods’ shared insights on optimising X-ray inspections, achieving compliance and enhancing production efficiency.

Green has extensive experience in helping global manufacturers overcome the unique challenges of high-speed canning processes. He commented: “Canned products are essential across the food and pet food industries, but the demands of high-speed canning  can make maintaining quality and safety extremely challenging. We are presenting this webinar in order to help canning companies address these challenges – providing manufacturers with the tools they need to improve efficiency and achieve compliance while maintaining high product quality standards.”

As an introduction to the one-hour webinar session, Green explained some of the main market drivers of canned goods, sharing insights on a market dominated by canned fruit, vegetables and seafood. He noted that geographically, there is increasing urbanisation in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions, and the fact that metal’s sustainability credentials are driving adoption for cans as the preferred packaging option.

However, challenges remain. Green noted that transportation is always a concern for any type of packaged good, and that in addition to this, fluctuations of raw material costs can greatly affect the canned goods market, as well as competition from other packaging materials.

When moving on to the X-ray part of the webinar, Green explained that the main benefits for inspection include brand security, protecting consumers and meeting regulatory requirements. The following topics were then discussed:

Foreign body detection & product integrity

Manufacturers often face challenges detecting contaminants in cans due to packaging materials or variations in can orientation. The webinar conveyed how X-ray inspection systems provide precise, automated detection of a wide range of foreign body contaminants regardless of can type (two-piece or three-piece ring pull). These systems also perform multiple integrity checks in a single pass – verifying fill levels, identifying canning deformities and confirming seal integrity.

High-speed quality control

High-speed canning lines can make it difficult to maintain inspection accuracy and manage product rejects. Green explored how X-ray technology handles these demands with robust line integration, delivering fast, reliable inspections to avoid production stoppages and reduce waste, even at high speeds.

Real-time demonstration

Attendees were able to see X-ray inspection in action during a live demonstration of Mettler-Toledo’s X37 series on a highspeed test track, showcasing how the systems can be seamlessly integrated into real production environments. The demonstration highlighted continuous, automated quality checks with minimal disruption to operations.

Data management for enhanced efficiency

With today’s fast-paced production lines, efficient data management is crucial, Green explained. Mettler-Toledo’s X-ray systems can integrate with ProdX data management software, allowing real-time monitoring and reporting to streamline audits, reduce human error and provide a comprehensive inspection record for compliance and due diligence purposes.

Following the webinar, attendees were invited to send in their own cans for validation testing, to see how their products perform in real-world production environments.