Inspection 'for show'

More cases of bread contaminated with needles and glass have prompted experts to question whether food firms are using their online metal detectors properly.

The police were investigating further cases of Kingsmill bread which were contaminated, it is thought, after the loaves left the bakery, while last month New Primebake recalled some batches of supermarket own-label speciality bread ranges because of possible contamination with metal.

Mike Bradley, sales manager at inspection equipment firm Mettler Toledo, said the lack of legislation meant some buyers were simply "covering their backs" by installing detectors but using them incorrectly: "Some companies are just putting metal detectors on the line to show due diligence and are not setting the machines to the right tolerances."

Although larger firms dealt with the matter "very seriously" said Bradley, smaller firms might adopt a "tick-box" mentality simply to comply with the 1990 Food Safety Act.

"In theory, a detector doesn't add anything to output, unlike a weigher. It's only going to reduce what you put out. So I understand some companies might put one on the line to meet customer requirements. This is simply a way of getting around the 1990 Food Safety Act and at the bottom end of the market, standards could be a little wanting."

Alan Johnson, inspection systems product manager for Loma Systems, suggested some firms set metal detectors for a "worst case scenario", rather than optimum sensitivity levels.

Bradley and Johnson said that retailers policed detector use by own-label producers, but not by branded product manufacturers.

"Marks & Spencer has specific requirements, so manufacturers can't just plonk the detector on the line and ignore how it is operating," said Bradley.

Johnson added: "M&S and Tesco have been really tightening up their approaches - wanting companies to look beyond detecting metal to getting it off the line and where it goes then."

Yet, as more retailers followed the likes of M&S, standards would rise, predicted Bradley.