FlexXray: Emerging Technologies for Improving Foreign Material Detection

Kye Luker serves as the Chief Product Officer at FlexXray, where he leads development of the company's innovative X-ray inspection process and technology. With more than two decades of experience in the service, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and food and beverage industries, Kye brings a wealth of knowledge in continuous improvement, quality assurance, and formulations to his role.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Kye [1:34] about:

• How foreign material (FM) contamination continues to challenge food manufacturers as it remains one of the leading causes of food recalls each year
• Why certain contaminants are difficult to detect with traditional metal detectors and inline X-ray systems
• How many FM control strategies remain reactive, with detection systems acting primarily as signaling devices rather than preventing contamination upstream
• The role of third-party inspection partners in helping manufacturers investigate FM incidents, narrow hold windows, and support data-driven product release decisions
• Key limitations of re-inspecting product in-house using the same inline equipment, speeds, and sensitivity settings that originally failed to detect FM
• How computed tomography (CT) inspection can analyze products in three dimensions, allowing inspectors to identify FM hidden by layering effects in complex food products
• The benefits of a multi-pronged FM control strategy that combines upstream detection technologies with advanced downstream inspection
• Advanced technologies utilized by FlexXray to enhance detection sensitivity and precision, including photon-counting X-ray systems and machine learning algorithms.

Resources

2025 Foreign Material in Food Benchmark Report

Sponsored by:

FlexXray