Bunting Magnetics Archives - Bunting Magnetics Co.

3 Risks to Magnet Effectivness Food Processors Cannot Ingnore

A third-party auditor just showed up at your food processing facility. How confident are you in the performance of your magnetic separation equipment? Are the magnets at your critical control points still performing at full strength and how would you know? While magnets generally have a long and effective life, certain food products and processes can permanently damage them, resulting in loss of strength. If your operation has any of the three process-related risk factors for magnets, learn how to reduce your compliance and safety risks, as well as protect your equipment from damage. Dr. John Ormerod, Magnet Applications Senior Technical Advisor at Bunting Magnetics Co., explains how to improve magnet effectiveness for Food Processors and the benefits of magnetic pull test kits.

Click Here to Read the Article: Three Risks to Magnet Effectiveness Food Processors Cannot Ignore

How to Select a Magnetic Can Conveyor for Your Food Manufacturing Operations

Bunting Magnetic Can Conveyors Offer Innovative Solutions for the Food Industry

Magnetic can conveyors have been a core element of food manufacturing operations — elevating cans to all floors and operations of a plant — for decades. Though the function of magnetic can conveyors is straightforward, there are specific criteria, and nuances within those criteria, to consider when selecting and customizing the right magnetic can conveyor, and choosing the right vendor, for your facility. Donald Suderman, Material Handling Product Manager for Bunting Magnetics Co., explains how to choose the right magnetic can conveyor for your food manufacturing operation.

Click Here to Read the Article: How to Select a Magnetic Can Conveyor for Your Food Manufacturing Operations

Metal Detection Protects Food and Families

You just sat down to enjoy your Saturday breakfast – hot coffee, orange juice, toast, hash browns, sausage, and an egg-white omelet. Everything seems perfect until you take a bite of sausage. Something doesn’t seem right. Instead of a burst of smoky flavor, you pull a metal fragment out of your mouth. You check the rest of your meal for metal scraps. You end up throwing away the rest of your breakfast, worried about how much metal you may have eaten without noticing. Finding metal contaminants in your food isn’t only “annoying” and unappetizing. It also poses serious risks to your health, especially if ingested. This unfortunate scenario recently became a reality for a national breakfast food company, which resulted in a massive product recall. There is something that could’ve prevented this public relations nightmare – accurate and dependable metal detection! Metal detectors sense the presence of ferrous, nonferrous, and stainless metals in a process flow, or as a packaged item, and allows you to remove the contaminated product.

Bunting Magnetics Co. Offers Metal Detection Solutions for the Food Industry that Keep Products Safe for Consumers

In efforts of damage control, the breakfast food company tried hard to protect the brand, and attempted to assure customers of their commitment to safety. However, this incident will likely have a lingering impact on the company’s reputation. This all could have been avoided if they had been using the proper magnetic and metal detection equipment on their processing line. Metal is the most common foreign material found in food products. This is why it’s so important for companies to detect and remove these hazardous contaminants before the product is packed and shipped. When contaminated food reaches the open market, it can have devastating consequences for both the company and their customers.

Using the right magnetic applications and metal detectors (along with regular testing and maintenance) is the only way to keep food products pure and safe for consumers. Bunting metal detectors are used in food plants to ensure the purity of your product, while protecting your valuable machinery from damage. Having metal detection applications that can handle both fresh and frozen meats is crucial to the success of businesses in the food industry. Our Gravity Free-Fall Style Metal Detectors are perfect for applications in either horizontal or vertical installations where space is limited. Tunnel Style Metal Detectors are custom-made for the unique needs of your application. They are used for the final inspection before a product ships to the customer. Triple Frequency Controls detect a packaged food product in three different conditions, giving you the most accurate readings for the best product results possible.

For more information about which metal detection products are best for your application, please contact Bunting Magnetics Co. to speak with a sales representative. We look forward to hearing from you and discussing how our metal detection products can help your business succeed!

Magnetic Liquid Traps Keep Orange Juice Safe

Citrus juice producers around the world are finding a better way of keeping orange juice free from harmful metal contaminants. In the last 18 months, Bunting Magnetics Co. has manufactured and sold 15 of our magnetic liquid traps to citrus producers in Spain. The progress that Bunting Europe is making in this market is exciting. It’s a testament to the innovative line of magnetic separation products that Bunting Magnetics Co. is known for throughout the world. Our newest product in North America, the Corrosive-Resistant Liquid Trap, was recently showcased in October 2018 at Pack Expo International in Chicago. This magnetic liquid trap is especially made to handle acidic foods, and remove fine iron from citrus juices. The Corrosive-Resistant Magnetic Liquid Trap has a much higher resistance to levels of acidity, which means it’s far less susceptible to damage than other applications. Keeping orange juice safe to drink and protecting your valuable investment? That’s what we call a “win-win” situation.

The Bunting Corrosive-Resistant Magnetic Liquid Trap is Your Solution for Products with High Acidity

How Do Metal Contaminants Enter Citrus Products?

Fine irons and stainless steel are common contaminants found in food processes. While it’s sometimes difficult to determine the source of the contamination, there are several ways that these hazardous metals can enter the system:

Harvest –Dirt often has a magnetic constituent, which is transferred to the fruit’s surface during harvest.
Transportation – Despite the use of plastic containers to store the fruit, the transport itself can spread metal contamination through rust, metal, dust, and dirt.
Processing – When juice is extracted from oranges or grapefruits, there are several stages where the fruit is sliced and compressed. Metal contamination can occur when this equipment is worn down.

Getting Rid of Metal Contaminants

High-strength magnets are needed to remove fine metal contamination from juices and liquids. Neodymium Rare Earth magnets are used in Bunting Magnetic Liquid Traps to capture magnetic debris, such as work-hardened 300 series stainless-steel fragments. Maximum contact is made between the juices and the magnetic fields by forcing liquids through a tightly spaced grid of magnets. The powerful rare earth magnet design is held firmly on the surface of the tube magnets to magnetically extract ferrous contamination from the liquid flow.

However, fruit juices contain very high levels of acidity, which can corrode and damage equipment. “Over time, acidic foods and cleaning solutions cause pitting and other damage to the equipment. This means downtime during peak production in order to replace parts,” explains Rod Henricks, Director of Sales.

Processors in the produce industry needed a stronger, safer, longer-lasting liquid trap that didn’t require constant replacements. This is why Bunting Magnetics Co. created the Corrosive-Resistant Liquid Trap. It has a much higher resistance to chloride pitting, crevice, and stress-cracking corrosion. The CR-MLT is better equipped to handle highly acidic foods such as tomato paste, ketchup, vinegar-based products, and citrus products like orange juice. The Corrosive-Resistant Liquid Trap utilizes high-intensity neodymium 45SH magnets that are temperature-compensated, in order to capture metal contamination in orange juice and other citrus liquids.

For more information about which magnetic liquid traps are best for your application, please contact Bunting Magnetics Co. to speak with a sales representative. We look forward to discussing the unique needs of your business, and helping you find a magnetic separation product that helps you succeed!

Why Is Magnetic Separation Important?

What makes food safe to eat? How are recycling companies actually able to “recycle”? How are grains kept pure? How is processing equipment protected from damaging metals? How are millions of products kept safe for consumers all over the world? It has nothing to do with Superman leaping tall buildings. The answer to these important questions is simple – it’s because of magnetic separation!

Magnetic separation has changed the world, and is responsible for product and food safety standards that we sometimes take for granted. Thanks to the innovations of magnet applications, we are able to eat food and use products that are free of dangerous materials. Magnetic separation also protects your equipment from serious damage by keeping the line clear of hazardous metal scraps. Whether you’re in the Food, Dairy, Grain and Milling, Chemical, Plastics, Oil, Textile, Recycling, Powder and Bulk, Mining, or the Non-Woven industries, magnetic separation applications are crucial to the success of your business.

Through the use of magnets, you are able to separate hazardous metals from your product before it’s shipped to consumers. This is extremely important for a number of reasons. When tramp metals are found in product and food, it can result in potential lawsuits, product recall, negative press, and severe injury to customers. Fortunately, this can all be avoided by investing in the right magnetic separation applications. The magnet separator you choose will depend on the type of material being processed and the system you are running the material through. Each system and product is unique, which means there is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to magnetic separation.

Bunting Magnetics Co. has nearly 60 years of experience helping customers find magnetic separation solutions that fit the unique needs of their applications.

Types of Magnet Materials

The type of magnet material you choose is determined by the density of the product, its flow rates, operating temperatures, and the types of ferrous contaminants you are trying to remove. Ceramic magnets are generally used for typical tramp iron separation, while alnico magnets are better suited for high operating temperatures.

Rare earth magnets are used when product densities and flow rates are high, and encounter weakly magnetic debris and grades of work-hardened steel. Types of rare earth magnets that are used for permanent magnetic separators include: Neodymium, Samarium Cobalt, and Ceramic Ferrite. Neodymium rare earth magnets are the strongest available, and are used to remove fine iron and stainless steel. Samarium cobalt magnets are smaller, slightly weaker, and can withstand higher temperatures. Ceramic ferrite magnets are lower strength, but produce deep magnetic fields. This makes them perfect for designs where the magnetic field needs to be projected at a distance.

Types of Magnetic Applications

There is a wide selection of magnetic separators that are used in the following industries: Recycling; Aggregate, Mining and Minerals; Grain and Milling; Food Production; Plastics; Non-Woven; and Powder and Bulk. Choosing the right magnetic separator will depend on the type of material being processed and the system you are running the material through.

Drawer Magnets are ideal for gravity flow applications and are used for easy-flowing, dry material. They are typically used in the Recycling, Food, Powder and Bulk, and Plastics industries to remove fine tramp metal contaminants. Drawer magnets are available in utility, food, and sanitary construction grades with multiple cleaning options and stainless steel housings.

Drum Magnets are used for a wide range of free-flowing bulk and granular materials in high-volume applications. They provide continuous removal of ferrous contaminants, and are used in the Plastics, Recycling, Grain and Milling, Powder and Bulk, and Aggregate, Mining and Minerals industries.

Plate Magnets remove hazardous materials from powdery, moist, lumpy and abrasive products, as well as from large debris that might choke, bridge, or cause rapid wear in cartridge-based separators. Ideal for gravity free-fall applications, plate magnets can be easily installed in chutes to remove ferrous fines and large pieces of tramp iron. Plate magnets can also be installed above or below conveyor drive pulleys to capture contaminants as materials drop from open belts. They are used for handling more abrasive products, and are often used in the Plastics, Recycling, Food, Grain and Milling, and Powder and Bulk industries.

In-Line Magnets are designed for unobstructed product flow. They are usually equipped with rare earth magnets and are best used for products with slightly clumpy flow. In-line magnets are typically used in the Plastics, Recycling, Food, Grain and Milling, and Powder and Bulk industries.

Magnetic Liquid Traps remove ferrous tramp metals from liquid processing and conveying lines. They are often used in the Food, Grain and Milling, and Powder and Bulk industries, and provide protection against product contamination. Magnetic liquid traps can handle acidic food products, and remove the smallest ferrous particles from liquids with a higher viscosity.

Hump Magnets are used for high-volume product flow in the Food, Grain and Milling, Powder and Bulk, and Non-Woven industries. They increase protection against entrapped ferrous materials, while helping prevent build-up and bridging of larger products.

Grate Magnets are used in applications for the Plastics, Food, Grain and Milling, and Powder and Bulk industries. They can be installed in hoppers, pits, chutes, housings, and bins to remove tramp metals from larger flowing materials.

Wedge Magnets are installed in narrow, vertical, or steeply inclined chutes in gravity flow applications. They protect pellet mills and other equipment from damage caused by tramp metals. Wedge magnets are used in the Grain and Milling industry to process particulate or semi-solid materials.

For more information about which magnetic separators are best for your application, please contact Bunting Magnetics Co. to speak with a sales representative. We look forward to hearing from you and discussing how our magnetic separation products can help your business succeed!