Performance and Expertise Shape Innovative Products at Herza

Founded in 1921, Herza Schokolade GmbH & Co. KG is a leading chocolate producer for the food industry, based in Norderstedt near Hamburg. Innovative chocolate varieties are the company's passion. They invested in high performance metal detection solutions that satisfied their high standards in quality and innovation.

Nowadays over one hundred members of staff produce around 5,000 tonnes of chocolate every year at Herza’s Norderstedt site. They refer to their "chocolate expertise" as "chocnology" – expertise which is based on strict quality standards and innovative production technology.
 

A Reliable Partnership

Herza has been using metal detection systems from METTLER TOLEDO Safeline for many years, as the reliable metal detectors fit in well with their high standards in quality and innovation. The metal detectors are located at the most important checkpoints on the production line, ensuring "safe" chocolate specialities.

After the chocolate cutting process, loose chocolate pieces or shavings are fed through a metal detector via an elevating conveyor, and inspected for metallic foreign particles. The Safeline R Series Profile detector has been developed specifically to check loose products in foodstuff processing applications.
 

The Profile Detector Ensures Safe Herza Products

The Safeline Profile distinguishes itself through particularly reliable metal detection and is also very easy to use thanks to its large touch screen terminal. The Profile detects all metallic foreign particles, even difficult to detect non-magnetic stainless steel and irregularly shaped particles, and reliably and securely removes them from the production process.

The metal detector can be configured and is available as either a single or multiple frequency unit. As such, this metal detector is particularly well suited to checking chocolate pieces of all sizes, just like those produced by Herza which can generate strong product signals.

Safeline metal detectors offer integrated performance validation and thereby comply with all HACCP and GMP guidelines. They also display when the next system test is due to be performed, thereby supporting the quality control staff at Herza.
 

End-of-Line Peace of Mind

In the final packaging area, two further Signature metal detectors from Safeline guarantee high product quality, where they check the fully packaged chocolate products shortly before they leave the facility on their way to customers.

"The later we check our products in the production process, the more certain we are that our products are free of foreign particles", explains Carsten Braumann, manager at Herza and responsible for quality management. "As we process our chocolate compositions with various different cutting techniques, we need reliable metal detection at our critical control points. The Safeline metal detectors excel because of their small metal-free zone, high sensitivity and multi-frequency technology."

Herza produces more than 200 products, including fondant Easter eggs, fine chocolate truffles, marzipan and nougat, as well as chocolate sprinkles and other chocolate ingredients used within the food industry. Therefore the company needs reliable metal detection for the most diverse of requirements.