Page 8 - Vol.36-No.8 issue
P. 8
POULTRY
X-RAY DETECTION WITH THE
LEAST FALSE POSITIVES
Latest software boosts SensorX bone detection performance
For poultry processors around the world, Marel’s SensorX set a new standard in bone detection when it was launched in
2006. From then to now, Marel did not rest on its laurels but continued to improve the popular concept. Given the current
great emphasis on food safety, SensorX’ strive for ultimate, bone-free product quality is perfectly placed. The latest im-
provement implies the virtual elimination of false positives – normally a disruptive inf uence in bone detection.
Marel’s SensorX x-ray bone detection Perfect balance of key performance indicators such as
system is a success story for many years yield, throughput, quality, capacity and
now. In the course of time, the role of in- The new software creates a perfect labor efficiency. These valuable insights
tegrated software has become increas- balance between an increased detection ensure that the production conforms to
ingly important to drive the SensorX to rate and a reduced false positive rate. quality and food safety standards.
maximum accuracy and reliability. But this equilibrium is a thin line. It’s no
use to try and detect the very smallest,
almost harmless bone particles if the
percentage of bigger bone detection
isn’t high enough. The first aim of Marel
was therefore to achieve the highest per-
centage of “big” bone particle detection
in the market. Elaborate testing of the
new SensorX software shows that this
objective has become a reality.
When performing bone detection
tests, false positives should always be in-
cluded. If detection results are excellent,
but the false positive rate is 30%, the ma-
chine is useless, because there’s way too
much rework to be done.
Market leader
Saving labor
By now more than 1000 SensorX sys-
A dual lane SensorX, working on full tems have been delivered to high-end
capacity, handles 240 pieces of meat per poultry processors in 40 countries
minute. Let’s assume the bone detection around the world; Marel has become
Less rework rate is 5% and the false positive rate is the market leader in bone detection for
6%. That would mean that 26 pieces of poultry. Continuous improvements will
For poultry processors, the ideal x-ray meat are rejected per minute. As an av- keep strengthening this position.
detection machine should detect bone erage operator can inspect 10 pieces per
remnants and other contaminants with minute for bones, three of them would be
the very highest degree of accuracy. needed to keep the production running.
What processors don’t want is a machine When you succeed in bringing down
which gives too many false positives. A the false positive rate to 3%, this would
false positive is material which is actual- result in 19 pieces per minute, needing
ly bone-free but which the machine han- only 2 inspectors. In this way the labor
dles and records as though it contained saving effects of the new SensorX soft-
residual bone. In this situation, bone ware are immediately visible.
performance detection statistics, whilst
looking impressive, will not reflect the Food safety
true situation and could be misleading Food safety and consistency is vital
for departmental management. Marel’s in the poultry processing industry. The
latest Sensor X software not only reduc- SensorX bone detection system is an ef-
es the incidence of false positives to ficient and cost effective way to detect
an absolute industry minimum but also and remove bones and bone fragments
detects those difficult to see bone frag- from poultry products.
ments more accurately. This means less Marel’s Innova software is capable of
rework and fewer inspectors, enhancing collecting reliable data to achieve full
still further the machine’s already excel- traceability throughout the production
lent performance.
process. It provides real-time monitoring
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6 Vol. 36 No. 8