Proactive Prevention: Foreign Material Contamination Revisited

For food processors around the world, one challenge carries higher stakes than all the rest: conveyor-related foreign material contamination (FMC).

First and foremost, FMC poses a health risk to the large consumer populations you serve—about 80% of the U.S. food supply alone moves on conveyors.

Then, to make matters worse, a product recall comes with catastrophic cost to both your brand and your bottom line—the average direct cost of a recall is $10 million USD.

Our very first food industry newsletter featured an expert article exploring the top five causes of conveyor-related foreign material risk. We reported those statistics then, along with tips for proactively addressing FMC risk in your facilities.

“With a proactive mindset, effective strategies in place, and strong partnerships with your OEMs and suppliers, you can ensure food safety in your plant,” wrote David Maldonado, Applications Engineering Manager at Intralox. “Working to prevent these leading causes of conveyor-related foreign material contamination can help protect your products, your customers, and your company’s reputation.”

In the four years since we published that article, FMC’s dangers have persisted—but so has Intralox.

We’ve spent countless more hours in your facilities observing your conveyors and procedures in action. We’ve studied your challenges, evaluating and updating the most prevalent FMC causes. We’ve used those causes as opportunities to improve upon our existing technologies, creating a holistic, systemic approach to food safety.

And now?

We’re applying innovative new solutions to FMC prevention.

Cause #1: Returnway/Carryway Setup

After evaluating more than 1,000 conveyors, our most observed FMC cause was improper returnway and carryway setup. This included improper carryway design, missing components, and incorrect material use.

Edge damage, excessive belt wear, and belt sagging or stress are all signs of improper returnway/carryway setup—and each can lead to breakage, increasing your FMC risk. To mitigate these risks, Intralox developed the FoodSafe Conveyor Program.

In the program, an Intralox FoodSafe Engineer and Commercial Food Sanitation (CFS) Food Safety Specialist assess your critical conveyors to identify risks, discussing them with you as they’re discovered.

Then, they use the information collected to prioritize your action items before conducting an interactive workshop at your facility. During the workshop, your team learns proper setup, maintenance, and sanitation while working together hands-on to solve conveyor-related challenges.

Once your team has aligned on proper setup and procedures, we recommend incorporating the Intralox Belt Replacement Ruler into your preventive maintenance program.

Using the Ruler is simple and requires only a few belt-width measurements to estimate the belt’s remaining life based on its current elongation. This allows you to create proactive maintenance schedules and optimized budgets by accurately anticipating belt and sprocket replacements—which brings us to the second-most prevalent FMC cause we observed…

Cause #2: Drive/Idle Setup

Improper drive/idle setup is another extremely common source of FMC risk. The biggest related issue is sprocket configuration on the drive shaft.

Belt mistracking and uneven loading are the symptoms to watch for. They can indicate that your sprockets are out of position, whether due to their initial setup or to drift. Such misalignment can break belt edges or even begin shaving the sprockets, each of which introduce FMC to your product.

One way to reduce this risk and maintain proper alignment is with a combination of Intralox’s heavy-duty split retainer rings and sprocket spacers. They’re designed to withstand the harsh environments of food processing and sanitation.

Plus, partnering with Intralox as a single supplier for your sprockets, shafts, spacers, and retainers means we’ll help ensure the right configuration.

But extra accessories like retainer rings, lock collars, and hose clamps can make sanitation more difficult. For our partners who prefer not to use them or who sanitize more frequently, we developed Intralox CleanLock sprockets.

CleanLock sprockets are designed to maintain their own alignment on a specially machined shaft—available from Intralox—without any retaining components. You can install them quickly and easily on the shaft using just a screwdriver and they won’t drift, even during cleaning with high-pressure hoses.

Cause #3: Belt Handling

The issue we observed third-most frequently was belt mishandling.

Personnel often install or remove modules incorrectly, store belting improperly, lift belts off conveyors too roughly, or simply drop or drag belting on the floor. Each can cause breakage resulting in FMC.

Intralox offers several tools to minimize belting damage during maintenance. For example, use our Rod Remover Tool in both the carryway and returnway to ensure safe, quick rod removal when disconnecting modules.

Intralox Clean Release offers an alternative, facilitating tool-free removal and installation of our Series 800 Heavy-Duty Edge belting. Its stainless steel construction further helps eliminate belt edge and rod damage.

Finally, the Intralox Belt Puller is a simple and robust stainless steel tool that makes pulling a belt through a conveyor during installation easier and safer. Installing belts on large, inclined conveyors often requires up to six people, but the Belt Puller allows the job to be done with only one or two. It also reduces the risk of dropping the belt during reinstallation.

Cause #4: Catchpoints

In many cases, we observed catchpoints along the conveyor that snag the belt as it travels. These continuously scratch the belt edges, creating plastic dust or even breaking off modules.

The most crucial step you can take is to ensure the belt runs smoothly through the entire conveyor while keeping the frame free of obstructions.

Another protective measure you can take is to use fault-tolerant belts. Intralox FoodSafe Heavy-Duty Edge (HDE) belting is the only solution of its kind available to food manufacturers. It was specifically designed and developed to resist breakage from misuse, incorrect orientation, and catchpoints.

Internal testing showed that—thanks to HDE’s robust design—our S2400 Radius HDE belting lasts over three times longer than the closest competing radius offering.

Plus, when combined with PK (Polyketone) material, Intralox HDE belting becomes the strongest, safest, most fault-tolerant modular plastic belting developed for food manufacturers.

Cause #5: Chemical Compatibility

Perhaps the hardest to spot among these leading FMC causes is the compatibility between your belting and the chemicals it encounters.

These vary by application but can include chemicals related to the products conveyed (as with acidic snack foods, for example) or even those used in your sanitation procedures.

“If the chemicals you’re using to clean aren’t compatible with the conveyor’s belt material, they can weaken the belt over time, making it prone to breakage,” Maldonado wrote. “We suggest working with your chemical and belt suppliers to proactively conduct a chemical compatibility review.”

This is another great reason to explore CFS’s resources, which include hands-on training and remote digital short courses to polish your team’s sanitation skills.

Of course, as Maldonado mentioned, you can always talk with Intralox about the chemicals you anticipate contacting your belt. Our experts can help you evaluate the effects they’ll have on lifespan and breakage risk.

We also developed a chemical compatibility chart for our meat, poultry, and seafood partners to reference, which often provides a useful starting point regardless of your industry.

Proactive Prevention

The best thing you can do to begin reducing your FMC risk is to understand the causes behind it. You’ve already begun your journey by reading this article.

When you’re ready to proactively investigate and address your risk factors, contact Intralox Customer Service.