Metal Detection Sensitivity

The sensitivity of a metal detector is affected by several factors of food products, those include:

• Product composition. For instance, a high content of salt in products like ham 

can make metal detectors give a false response (due to electrical conductivity).

Also, blood and iron content in meat can affect sensitivity.

• Product characteristics, for example: in meat products, 

metal detection can be influenced by the type of product present either as whole muscle or emulsion. 

Product density also has an effect if metal is present, denser products can give a different signal than less dense products.

• Temperature variation in food affects the signal even though metal is not present, 

causing misinterpretation of metal detected (ex: warm bread can produce a different signal than room temperature bread).

• Packaging material such as aluminum foil can produce a misleading signal due to metal composition of the packaging material.