Archive: Dec 2023

Metal Detectable Plastics

National Plastics and Seals specializes in metal detectable plastics, bolstering our role as a leading full-line distributor of precision-engineered custom plastic components. Read on to learn how metal detectable plastics are already helping food, pharmaceutical, and packaging industries improve their quality control while maximizing the value of their services.

What is a Metal Detectable Plastic?

Using specialized additives, it’s possible to produce a high-density plastic that shows up on metal detectors. These metal detectable plastics are increasingly essential to maintain safety and improve quality throughout the food industry. By transitioning to metal detectable plastic components, food processing companies minimize the chances of plastic contamination in their products.

This can occur as processing equipment wears down or breaks, which can occur by the slow, gradual release of small bits of plastic that are very hard to detect. However, verifying the presence of metal detectable plastics is easier, but the components are more durable and less prone to wear in the first place.

These core advantages help food and pharmaceutical processing companies maintain the purity and safety of their products while protecting their consumers. It also provides a clear sign of equipment breakdown, indicating the need for essential maintenance services.

At National Plastics and Seals, we have the capability to produce metal detectable plastics from polyethylene, acetal, polyurethane, nylon, UHMW, PTFE, and PEEK.

Metal Detectable Plastic Applications

Our metal detectable, ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) polyethylene suits numerous parts common to the food and pharmaceutical processing industries. The packaging industry also uses metal detectable plastic parts to keep processing lines free of stray plastic pieces, which reduces the chance of damaged parcels or conveyor equipment.

Any industry dependent on detecting broken plastic parts can now use metal detectors to notify technicians of plastic contamination and equipment breakdown. Most importantly, it reduces risk to consumers, especially with edible or ingestible products. A bottling or canning machine made of metal detectable plastic, for instance, will automatically trigger a metal detector when even small pieces of machinery enters a finished product.

From there, companies can establish various processes to stop and remove contaminated products and investigate the source of the plastic breakdown. By replacing standard plastic components with custom-engineered metal detectable plastics, your company can immediately improve product safety and quality controls while reducing liability.

Metal Detectable Plastic Benefits

Metal detectable plastics from National Plastics and Seals can help you meet or exceed some of the highest industry standards for product safety. Consider the full range of benefits metal detectable plastics provide compared to traditional plastic parts:

• Ultra-detectable by both X-rays and metal detectors with special formulation
• Many metal detectable plastics feature a characteristic blue color for easy visual identification
• Resistant to wear and abrasions
• FDA-approved for direct food contact

Why Choose National Plastics & Seals

We back our innovative metal detectable plastic services with a commitment to lean manufacturing and ISO 9001:2015 industry standards, for final products that always conform to the customer’s specifications. Through superior technical support and client services, we’re always looking for new ways to bring value to your operations.

In business since 1985, National Plastics and Seals is known as “standing above the crowd” in meeting your requirements of quality, reliability, competitive pricing, technical support and unsurpassed service. It has guided us to our current role as a fully in-house provider of specialty custom plastic manufacturing solutions. We also provide extensive distribution services for the following:

• Plastic sheet, rod, and tube
• Heat shrink tubing
• Rubber components

For more information, contact us or request a quote, and tell our custom plastic fabrication and manufacturing experts about your metal detectable plastic needs.