Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Measuring – testing – or controlling by inanimate means
Reexamination Certificate
1995-06-27
2001-01-23
Weinstein, Steven (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Measuring, testing, or controlling by inanimate means
C426S232000, C053S054000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06177113
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the art of and science of detecting plastic or other elastomeric materials which are used in conjunction with food processing, and more particularly, to materials that have metal particulates embedded therein for easy detectability during or subsequent to the food processing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of plastic materials in the food processing industry has heretofore posed unavoidable health risks, principally due to the difficulties in detecting the presence of such materials when they are accidently introduced into the food product. Likewise, other elastomeric materials such as rubber materials are frequently utilized as components in the food processing system which processes the food product. When these materials are subjected to temperature change or wear, or even due to mechanical breakdown over the passage of time, their brittleness tends to increase resulting in an easily fracturable material. For this reason, these materials commonly fail through breakage or sloughing off of small pieces, often resulting in piece fragments being introduced into the food product.
Conventional techniques for detecting such materials within the food stuff have included screening or filtering of the food stuff. This solution, however, is viable only when the food stuff being processed is in liquid form and where no particulates are present in the food stuff. Moreover, such screening or filtering can unnecessarily alter the characteristics of the food stuff and requires additional expense in the food processing equipment. Accordingly, there has been no easy or practical method to detect elastomeric materials which are inadvertently lodged within the food product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an improvement over the prior art with a material that may be readily used in food processing applications, such as to fabricate plastic or rubber/elastomeric piece parts used as components in a food processing system. The material according to the present invention includes a first plastic or elastomeric material constituent and a second metal constituent. The metal constituent is preferably mixed with the plastic material constituent at a relatively small percentage by weight so that it does not effect the properties of the plastic material. The metal constituent, however, is detectable with a conventional metal detecting device so that the presence of the material within a food product can be determined.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of detecting the presence of a material in a food processing application is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a material to be used in conjunction with the food processing application where the material comprises a first plastic or elastomeric constituent and a second metal constituent. The food product is processed in a next step. Thereafter, the food product is scanned by a metal detecting device in order to determine whether the material is present in the food product. Finally, the metal detecting device provides an appropriate alarm or other signal when the presence of the material is detected.
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Birk Edward W.
Kress John E.
APV Crepaco Inc.
Leydig , Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
Weinstein Steven
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