Increase Integrity of Single-use Assemblies Immediately Before Use.
ATMI Life Science
A UK company has launched what it believes is a unique safeguard against film contamination in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
Pocklington-based E-Components & Chains Limited (ECC) has extended its Detectamet line of metal-detectable plastic implements for these industries with Detectamet/Tec-Tor Metal Detectable Polythene Sheeting.
The Tec-Tor product replaces the standard thick blue polyethelene used in drug and food packaging with a stiffer, stronger film that can be traced down to very small particle sizes by standard metal detection systems on processing lines.
Tec-Tor is available in sheet, reel or bag formats and in a wide range of sizes and colours, with applications ranging from wrappers to machinery covers. As ECC explained, packaging is a key source of contamination in the pharmaceutical and food processing and packaging environments. Slivers of plastic can easily get mixed in with the product when, for example, tablets are being bulk-processed or containers split.
The Tec-Tor sheeting improves the chances of picking up these stray fragments before they become a contamination risk. The three-ply material incorporates heat-welded magnetic additives that trigger metal detectors. The detectable particle sizes should be even smaller in the pharmaceutical than the food industry, as metal detectors used by drug packagers/processors are generally more sensitive, ECC noted.
The new, patent-protected product is targeted at companies aligning their practices with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles, which increasingly are being deployed not just in food safety management but other sectors such as pharmaceuticals.
ECC's current range of Detectamet products is sold worldwide, with the US the leading source of revenues. Enquiries about the Detectamet/Tec-Tor Metal Detectable Polythene Sheeting are coming in from that market as well as Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the company said.
