Foreign Body Control
Foreign body contamination of foods is a major cause of consumer complaints, product recalls, and audit non-compliance. It can also compromise food safety and quality, and damage production equipment and your business’s reputation. This knowledge hub provides a comprehensive overview of foreign body risks in food production, the related regulatory framework, and practical strategies for their prevention and control.
We emphasise the use of a risk-based, standards-driven approach and highlight the importance of continuous improvement and compliance. The resources provided will both help you learn about and control the physical hazards that may be introduced from sources such as the production equipment, environment, people, packaging, and/or cleaning tools and utensils.
Explore content detailing the best practices for implementing a multi-layered foreign body defence strategy including:
Preventative measures targeted at metal, plastic, and glass control
Optimising the detection of metals and metal detectable plastics
The use of manual visual inspection
Preventative measures targeting cleaning tool-related foreign body hazards such as bristles and microplastics.
General Information Related to Foreign Bodies
Foreign bodies, also called foreign objects, matter, material, or physical contaminants, are defined by CODEX as any unintended substance that may compromise food safety or suitability.
These unintended substances can arise from many different sources, including from:
The food itself (bones, stalks)
The production process (plastic, glass, metal from tools or equipment)
People (hair, jewellery)
Understanding these sources is essential to controlling them. This page provides general knowledge to help you recognise and manage foreign body risks. We encourage you to explore further and deepen your expertise to support safe, compliant, and reliable food production.
Metal Detection
Metal detectable plastics can support your foreign body prevention strategy by improving the likelihood of identifying plastic contamination during metal detection. This section introduces how these materials function, where they provide value, and how to apply them effectively within a risk-based food safety approach.
You will find guidance on choosing and maintaining metal detectable tools, as well as on optimising metal detection systems to enhance the detection of both metal and metal detectable plastic contaminants. This resource helps ensure these tools are used appropriately, consistently, and in alignment with industry standards and best practises.
Bristle control
Effective bristle control is essential to preventing plastic foreign bodies during cleaning. Traditional drilled-and-clipped brushes can lose bristles when used on complex equipment, increasing contamination risk.
This section explores how brush design, inspection, and maintenance influence bristle security—and how fully moulded, hygienically engineered solutions can greatly reduce the likelihood of bristle loss.
Control of foreign bodies from cleaning equipment and utensils
See how choosing and maintaining the right cleaning tools reduces foreign body contamination risks in food environments.
Dealing with glass debris in food processing operations
Food industry customers often ask us about the best way to clean up glass breakages and the resulting debris. Here's our expert's recommendations.