Food safety – a matter of weight

Food safety begins with accurate weight recording and by no means ends there. In everyday practice, weighing systems play a key role in ensuring product quality in food production, complying with legal requirements and avoiding product recalls. The Minebea Intec MiNexx® portfolio has been specially developed to meet these requirements: It includes bench and floor scales as well as powerful weight indicators that reliably evaluate complete systems such as silo, hopper or truck scales.

Too high a salt content in ready-made soup, an incorrectly dosed allergen ingredient in a snack product or insufficiently filled packaging in the hands of the consumer, just a few grams variance can affect flavour, product quality, customer satisfaction and compliance with legal regulations. If errors occur here, there is not only the threat of costly product recalls, but also a loss of trust that has a long-term impact on the brand and market position.

Advanced weighing technology makes a decisive contribution to minimising such risks. It not only ensures accurate weight determination, but also documented traceability, hygienic processing and reliable process control. "Those who rely on precision and control in their production create the basis for consistent product quality and protect consumers and companies at the same time," says Nils Hubrich, Product Manager at Minebea Intec.

Weight indicators as a key factor for safe and traceable processes

Whether dosing raw materials, filling packaging, checking quantities or monitoring recipes - weighing processes are essential in almost all steps of food production. The MiNexx^® C, M and L Weight indicators fulfil a central function here: they process the signals from the connected load cells and platforms, prepare the weight values and control specific functions such as manual batching, piece counting or checking fill levels.

Thanks to the variety of connections and flexible integration, MiNexx® indicators can be integrated into stand-alone solutions such as bench and floor scales - as well as networked lines and automated systems with higher-level control. "Today, a modern Weight indicator is much more than just a display instrument," says Nils Hubrich. "It actively contributes to making processes reproducible and safe - and thus creates the basis for consistent product quality and traceability."

IT security is a key aspect. The integrated user management system is based on a three-tier role model with individually configurable passwords. This prevents unauthorised access - a relevant contribution to protecting sensitive production data and securing digitalised processes.

Even under hygiene-critical conditions, which are essential in the food industry to prevent cross-contamination and make cleaning processes easy, the models fulfil the current requirements: MiNexx^®M and MiNexx^®L have a stainless steel housing with protection class IP 69 and are therefore suitable for use in humid or cleaning-intensive environments. The MiNexx^®C model is available for compact enclosed solutions and, with IP65 protection, also offers reliable protection against the ingress of dust or water jets from any direction.

MiNexx^®3000: For hygienic weighing of small and large containers

Whether portioning raw ingredients, final inspection of packaged products or weighing heavy units of goods - precise and hygienic weighing is a fundamental component of food safety. The MiNexx^®3000 scale series offers two robust solutions for this: a compact bench scale and a powerful floor scale, both made of stainless steel and designed for use in hygiene-critical zones.

The MiNexx^®3000 bench scale is ideal for applications such as manual filling, portioning or checkweighing - for example in delicatessen, dairy or convenience production. Its smooth surfaces, open design and IP 69 protection rating enable thorough cleaning even under high pressure. Thanks to their high resolution, even the smallest deviations can be detected at an early stage - a plus point for consistent quality and reliable batch management.

The MiNexx® 3000 floor scale is used when pallets, big bags or drums are being weighed e.g. for incoming goods, recipe production or dispatch control. Its anti-slip tear plate surface ensures stability, even in wet or oily conditions. The load plate can be folded open so that even hard to reach areas can be cleaned quickly and reliably. With a load capacity of up to 6 tonnes and a standard resolution of 60,000d, it offers the precision required for demanding heavy-duty applications.

"In hygiene-sensitive production areas, scales must not only weigh reliably, but also be designed to facilitate cleaning and have no weak points - this is exactly where the MiNexx^®3000 series comes in. With this series, we are demonstrating that we fulfil the highest hygiene standards and, thanks to the NSF, we can also point to official certification as a hygienic product," explains Eren Sagdas, Product Manager at Minebea Intec. Both models help to avoid cross-contamination, comply with quality standards and systematically eliminate hygienic weak points in the process - key factors for safe food production.

Focus on traceability and resource protection

Whether minimising material losses or seamless documentation of batches, the MiNexx^®systems provide reliable weighing data and can be fully integrated into existing ERP and quality management systems. This makes it much easier to comply with legal regulations such as EU Regulation 178/2002 on the traceability of food.

With its combination of precision, hygiene suitability, cybersecurity and flexible integration, the MiNexx^® series of scales makes a measurable contribution to safe, legally compliant and economical food production.