Food processing is a highly scrutinized industry with rigorous government oversight and regulations to ensure consumer and worker safety. Manufacturers must rely on quality control measures for their products and processes to remain compliant with the strict standards set by regulatory agencies. More importantly, quality control guidelines allow food manufacturers to minimize contamination risk and provide safe, quality food to customers.
Manufacturers implement standard operating procedures and incorporate the highest quality measuring instruments to ensure reliable and recorded results and product consistency across batches. Since government agencies are paying such close attention, the product's quality status must be reviewed and documented carefully throughout all stages of the production process. The two most common sets of requirements for oversight are GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) traceability and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point). OHAUS keeps both standards in mind when developing precision weighing and measuring instruments for the food industry.
Ensuring Quality
Quality control is integral to every step of food processing, including procurement, development, production, and distribution. After carefully selected raw materials are approved, the production team will formulate the finished product by following standard operating procedures for ingredients, recommended weights, batch size, and process time. Not only does the SOP need to be carefully documented, but so does the ongoing manufacturing process to ensure consistency and compliance, and also to identify the cause should an issue arise.
One of the final steps – labeling – is also heavily regulated as what is indicated on the outside of the package must be matched by the finished product that is on the inside from formulation and consistency to weight and other factors. Instruments supporting food quality control are needed both at the front of the building (bench scales, moisture analyzers) and in the back processing area (floor scales, washdown scales).
To support food manufacturer needs, OHAUS provides a wide range of durable, reliable measuring instruments to suit many applications in processing, research and development, testing, packaging, warehousing, shipping and more. We have worked with food processing industry for decades to help support safety, efficiency, throughput and profitability. We offer solutions for improving consumer safety, product consistency, and quality control.
OHAUS commercial instruments are designed to help you meet demands for food safety, quality and regulatory compliance. Our scales and moisture analyzers provide efficient solutions for nearly all aspects of food processing - material receiving, formulation, quality control, filling, batching, basic weighing and checkweighing. Our precision weighing and measuring instruments for food are dependable, easy to set up and use, and reliably precise to help you maximize yield and minimize waste.
Selecting the Right Instruments
OHAUS offers a range of scales designed specifically for the food industry. We offer models that are certified by NSF to support HACCP systems and are also USDA-AMS accepted. These OHAUS scales are designed with smooth, unobstructed surfaces that are easy to clean and free of areas where material can build up and cause contamination. Here are just a few of the high-performance food scales and moisture analyzers we stand behind.
For high capacity, heavy duty food weighing up to 250 lb (125 kg), OHAUS offers the
Defender™ 6000 Series of Bench Scales. Specifically designed for food processing,
Defender 6000 handles the most demanding applications with a 316 stainless steel platform and frame and durable 316 stainless steel or food grade polycarbonate indicator.
Defender 6000 Bench Scales are available in a range of platform sizes, weighing capacities, readability capacity, and special features to suit your needs.
Defender 6000 Bench Scales are designed to handle high pressure washdowns and harsh cleaning agents and meet metrological standards for legal-for-trade applications with a laser-sealed stainless steel IP69K load cell and IP69K indicators.
Defender 6000 Bench Scales feature large bright displays and color checkweighing indicators for easy readouts and efficient work. Software modes include counting, percent weighing and even filling. Communication is simple with a range of connectivity options and GLP/GMP data output with real-time clock for processing tracking and traceability.
Defender 6000 is loaded with special features for convenience and safety, including 150% overload capacity protection, menu and key lock, selectable environmental and auto-print settings, stability indicator, overload/underload indicators, auto shut-off, auto tare, and adjustable rubber feet.
For back of the warehouse weighing of heavy loads, OHAUS supports efficient food manufacturing with our new
Defender DF Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Floor Scales. Available in 3x3' and 4x4' bases with up to 5,000 lb capacity, these floor scales are well-suited for food applications requiring frequent cleaning. Both versions feature smooth 5mm / 0.19" decks and are constructed from 304 stainless steel with IP68 alloy steel loadcells and structural bracing insuring a stiff and solid construction.
Defender 3000 DF33XW Washdown Floor Scales are simple to use, with results clearly shown on the large, bright backlit LCD display. In Checkweighing mode, display changes color (yellow/green/red) to alert users when they are within the target weight range. The indicator's 304 stainless steel housing is rated to IP66 for wet-area use.
Defender 5000 DF52XW Floor Scales feature our popular
TD52XW Indicator which is both easy to use and has advanced software, extended Library function to manage up to 50,000 items and 1,000 users, and a wide range of data connection options for systems integration.
To further support quality control and industry compliance, OHAUS offers a range of compact
moisture analyzers with intuitive features to help you monitor quality and consistency through moisture content analysis. With durable construction, easy-to-read displays and intuitive software, our
MB Series of Moisture Analyzers offer a range features to suit your application needs. The
MB23 has a metal IR heater without glass for food production areas, while our other
MB Moisture Analyzers feature halogen heating for faster and more precise moisture determination in the lab. Our top-of-the-line
MB120 gets you started quickly with SmartGuide™. This revolutionary feature automatically analyzes a sample and creates a method, thereby removing the guesswork from the initial setup.
For more information about OHAUS measuring instruments for the food industry, contact your OHAUS account manager.