BST Detectable Products & Freaks of Nature discuss the importance of controlling foreign body contamination

Freaks of Nature, based in Ossett (West Yorkshire), launched their plant based desserts with Tesco in April 2017 to huge success. Their delicious desserts, which include ‘Mango Fandango’, ‘Cocoa Loco’ and the new ‘Strawberry Blonde’ and ‘Choc & Awe’ Cheesecakes are all free from eggs, dairy, gluten and soya. The absence of these allergens makes the products ideal for consumers who are looking for a natural dessert. The products are suitable for Vegans, Coeliacs, and are Kosher Approved, as well as appealing to those who are making natural eating choices so everyone can enjoy a tasty dessert.

Upon joining the business in January 2017, David Ditch (Technical Manager) set about implementing food safety procedures to ensure that the products leaving the facility would be fit and safe to consume. During a recent visit to the Freaks of Nature facility by Joseph Armstrong-Gore & Will Anderson of BST, David explained “One of my first phone calls was to Joseph to discuss our new operational and contaminant control requirements and the critical importance of using metal detectable products in the factory which includes having metal detection procedures across the factory, which is vital in supporting this objective.

 

Freaks of Nature utilise a Prisma metal detection system, which as well as metallic contaminants, can detect BST Detectapen’s, paper traceability tags, box fragments, clipboard fragments, cable ties, sampling spoon fragments
and fragments of other detectable equipment supplied by BST Detectable Products.

The use of such detectable equipment is a bold display of due diligence in the prevention of foreign body contamination. Such contamination caused 104 recorded incidents in the UK from April 2016 – April 2017 (FSA) and represented 5% of overall incidents.

By working together BST and Freaks of Nature have been able to identify and address foreign body risks. The prevention of foreign body contamination is high on the agenda of many major brands as they seek to improve consumer safety and safeguard their reputations.

David Ditch added: “Knowing that you have trustworthy detectable products and the support of the company you deal with is essential. We routinely test every detectable product as soon as we receive it to ensure detection performance before it is used in the factory”.

By implementing the Metal Detectable Procedures at Freaks of Nature David is proud to inform us that by working with BST, Freaks of Nature have had zero Foreign Body incidents.

BST’s head of products Will Anderson commented “The successful, pragmatic and diligent approach shown by Freaks of Nature is fantastic to see, and it’s great knowing that our products are playing their part and performing as they should”.

Freaks of Nature desserts are available in most major UK retailers and come highly recommended by BST. Please visit their store checker at www.freaksofnature.co.uk.

If you wish to learn more about food grade metal detectable and x-ray visible products then contact BST and request a copy of their new white paper or arrange for an onsite visit with a member of their team.