The company designs, manufactures, and supplies x-ray and metal detectable products, which range from stationery to equipment such as scoops and containers.
Sean Smith, CEO, Detectamet, told FoodQualityNews.com the company responds to suggestions from customers as well as coming up with their own ideas for products.
“Certainly in the last two years, the interest has been tenfold,” he said. “This has come particularly from America, and across Europe, but also in Asia.
“A lot of our products have been customer driven. They have an issue – they’ve lost a glove, for example. We had one customer who had problems with plastic calculators, so we developed detectable calculators. We get requests from all over the world.”
It can take Detectamet anywhere between 12 months and five years to develop a product, Smith said.
The company has released a ‘detectable double detainment brush’ range this month. It was designed to tackle the failings of traditional brushes, where bristles can break up or drop out of the brush head and contaminate food.
In Detectamet’s brushes, stainless steel staples fasten bristle groups into the brush head, and then the grip is reinforced by applying a detectable and antimicrobial resin to surround and lock in the bristles. This also eliminates the holes and dirt traps in a brush.
“The resin is detectable as well – it’s the first completely detectible resin set and something the food industry definitely has had a requirement for, for a good number of years,” said Smith.
Another release is a heavy duty detectable pen. It has been designed with a textured finish and is shaped with ridges, to reduce the possibility of the pen slipping out of the hands.
Detectable products give producers reassurance, when food safety breaches and recalls are costly to a brand, added Smith.
“It enhances and reinforces the point that the processor uses all due diligence, and tries to reduce the risk of product contamination. It’s peace of mind,” he said.