In the foodservice industry, superior food quality is critical. Retailer codes of practice driven by consumer preferences are constantly changing. Loma systems is helping st. Clair foods expand their production lines and integrate new processing technologies to help them stay one step ahead of customer demands and consumer trends.st.
Clair foods is one of the premier foodservice providers for salads and entrees in the united states. Managed out of memphis, tennessee since 1976, the company offers hundreds of different products from their signature salad dressings to chilled salads, dips, frozen entrees and side dishes. With &ldquoquality as the main ingredient&rdquo according to st. Clair foods&rsquo vice president, brian edmonds, it&rsquos no wonder the company is quickly expanding their distribution channels. You can find the st. Clair brand in restaurants nationwide, in popular retail stores and even on television.
While the st. Clair brand is synonymous with quality, private label and customformulated products are becoming a rapidly growing segment of the business. No matter how the st. Clair brand reaches your table, you can count on their awardwinning delectable tastes.st. Clair foods has been a loyal loma systems customer for 20 years, a relationship that started based on a referral from a fellow foodservice colleague. So when st.
Clair foods approached dave st. John, regional sales manager for loma systems, about proactively providing a second line of defense to ensure consistent quality and preserve food safety standards, he immediately paid a visit to the plant. &ldquoindustry food safety regulations are very strict, but having worked with st.
Clair foods for many years, i know they hold their products to even higher standards,&rdquo said st. John. &ldquowith a loma systems iq2 harshliner metal detector already on each of their six production lines, we needed to implement a system that would complement their existing technology.&rdquoloma systems immediately began the task of mapping out st. Clair foods&rsquo operations from receiving raw product, filling and packaging for distribution. We learned that, like many food processing facilities, st. Clair foods was using the loma systems metal detectors as offline inspection systems, running large, finished 1230 pound containers of product at the final stage of production. &ldquowe called in loma systems because their products operate extremely well in our environment,&rdquo stated dennis spence, plant manager for st.
Clair foods. &ldquowe operate our production areas at very cold temperatures and because our products are produced in strict accordance with haccp guidelines, we subject our systems to harsh, wet washdowns.&rdquofor the past 10 years, st. Clair foods has scored 95 or higher on external industry sanitation audits and they aren&rsquot about to stop that trend. &ldquowe&rsquove put our loma systems iq2 metal detectors through some tough conditions and they still work like they are new. They are definitely rugged systems,&rdquo continued spence.after learning more about st.
Clair foods&rsquo production process and environment conditions, loma systems immediately recognized that xray inspection was the right technology to help the company adhere to their own strict standards for product quality. Loma systems worked with st. Clair foods to integrate two x4 pipeline xray inspection systems, one on each of their highest volume production lines. It was decided the two x4 pipeline systems would be placed inline to add an extra layer of protection at the beginning stage of production to control the quality of raw product.the two highvolume production lines run a continuous flow of product at high flow rates.
Blue cheese dressing, chunky salsa and potato salad are run between 15,000 and 30,000 pounds per hour. The organic nature of these products is not consistent, so loma systems recommended a 3&rdquo pipe width to improve product flow rates and prevent product blockage. &ldquowe run multiple products on each line, so it was important to find a xray inspection system with solid product memory,&rdquo said spence.
The x4 pipeline systems store up to 10,000 unique product profiles and the system will autocalibrate, ready for production within 30 seconds.the x4 pipeline system detects metallic and nonmetallic contaminants such as glass, stone, calcified bone, highdensity plastics, flavor clumps and rubber. Loma systems&rsquo xray technology also measures density, counts components, identifies missing or broken products, monitors fill levels and checks for damaged or malformed packaging. &ldquoin the food processing industry, you are always at risk. Anything can happen at any time.
Our goal is to mitigate that risk and we feel the combination of metal detection and xray technologies will play a huge role in providing that extra level of protection for our customers,&rdquo said edmonds.and brian edmonds would know since he currently serves as the president of the refrigerated foods association rfa.
St.Clair foods is a charter member and has been actively involved with helping shape food safety procedures for 33 years. &ldquoi can&rsquot stress how important it is to provide safe, quality food,&rdquo said edmonds. &ldquoi recommend that any food processing facility take a multilevel approach to protecting their distributors, retailers, customers and the reputation of their brand.&rdquo&ldquosince integrating the x4 pipeline xray inspection systems, we have been able to share our results and best practices with our suppliers and help them improve their processes as well.
As a result, the quality of raw product we receive has significantly improved,&rdquo continued edmonds.st. Clair foods can now capture product images using loma systems&rsquo proprietary image processing and 3d modeling technology with speed and reliability. This data capture system has significantly reduced the number of contaminant instances found during the final stages of production &ndash before product reaches the consumer. This is crucial in protecting the integrity of the st.
Clair brand.as part of the package, loma systems included startup and oneweek of onsite training for operators and users. &ldquoone of the key reasons our implementation went smoothly was the startup and onsite training,&rdquo said spence. &ldquowe are able to use our xray systems without a special operator.
Our own team can operate them using the icondriven control panel.&rdquohe adds, &ldquothe loma systems service team is very accessible. If you have a question, they are just a phone call away.&rdquo st. Clair foods is also a member of loma systems&rsquo premium service program. With 5star service and support, it&rsquos no wonder st. Clair foods trusts loma systems to help them verify food quality every step of the way.
