Foreign Material Investigation

A large international food processing company received packaged cheese products from a small dairy processor in Nevada and claimed that the product was contaminated with foreign material in the form of small pieces of plastic during production. CEI^TM was hired by the legal counsel for the processor to provide an independent 3^rd party expert analysis of the dairy facility to determine potential sources of the foreign material. Laboratory testing was done to determine the composition of the plastic and CEI^TM performed a site review and engineering assessment of the cheese processing lines from receiving through finished product packaging. Production records, quality control procedures and maintenance logs were reviewed to determine the timing of the product batch in question and whether any upset condition was experienced during the production. CEI^TM published a report on the findings and recommendations for further testing and investigation. The outcome of the legal proceedings is unknown.