Award-winning U.K. ice cream producer Cheshire Farm has continued the investment in its modern factory with the recent installation of a metal detector and conveyor system from Lock Inspection Systems.
The family-run business produces over 2,000 L (528 gal) of ice cream per hour, in more than 30 different flavors and a range of tub sizes from 110 mL (3.7 oz) to 5 L (1.3 gal). The chosen end-of-line Lock Insight system, which replaced an outdated metal detector, meets the challenges of this very specific manufacturing environment.
“Accurate inspection of ice cream can be difficult because the conductive signal varies according to the temperature of the product—even slight changes during production will make a difference,” explains Rob Gray, UK sales at Lock. “With temperatures of around minus six degrees Celsius at inspection, any unexpected rise or fall in ambient temperature may change the temperature of the ice cream and alter the conductive signal that it generates. Our sophisticated technology can track these fluctuations and make the necessary fine adjustments to ensure a consistently high level of contaminant sensitivity.”
