Family-owned wholesale bakery La Provence of San Marcos, CA, makes artisan breads, pastries and cookies that go to market under the La Provence and private-label brands. Their baked goods, including organic, gluten-free, and non-GMO varieties, are distributed to coffee shops and retailers, several of which are Fortune 500 companies. After purchasing a new cookie packaging line in 2016, La Provence turned to Mettler-Toledo for new inspection equipment to maximize their final product quality.
“It’s typical in the food industry to see companies simply react to problems. Our X-ray equipment, metal detectors, checkweighers, and tank scales allow us to be proactive and confident that all our products are exceptional,” says Philip Dardaine, CEO of La Provence. “The most important thing is that our food is safe, for the sake of consumers and customers as well as ourselves. We take food safety very seriously. That’s why we rely on the Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection Group.”
La Provence’s first X-ray system was Safeline’s SmartChek, which it used for over 10 years. Dardaine says they were very impressed with its accuracy and ease of use. “That’s why we decided to go straight to X-ray for our new cookie line last year,” he explains. La Provence’s sales rep, Kirk Isham at Pacific Packaging & Inspection, supported the decision, he adds.
La Provence installed its latest X-ray machine, a Safeline X33, to inspect 5- to 16-oz tubs of cookies. The X33 detects dense foreign material, including all types of metal, and automatically rejects contaminated packages. As Mettler-Toledo’s next-generation solution, it features the same detection sensitivity as the SmartChek and AdvanCheck models but with a lower watt generator to reduce power consumption and operating costs.
