Leak Detection Solutions for Food Packaging

Food manufacturers are constantly striving to deliver products of the highest quality while ensuring extended shelf-life. To achieve this, packaging plays a leading role in preserving freshness and preventing contamination. Even the best product, made with the finest ingredients, can quickly be compromised by leakage. For example, nuts can turn rancid, sausages and meat products can lose color and flavor and spoil. Cheese can start to mold and powdered milk can become lumpy. These are just a few examples of how a simple packaging defect can drastically reduce the shelf life and quality of food products, resulting in food waste, financial loss and damaged reputations for manufacturers. To maintain these stringent quality standards, leak testing is essential to prevent food degradation and ensure consumer safety.

INFICON offers a range of efficient and attractive package integrity testing equipment. The Contura S-Series Leak Detector has already been adopted by many manufacturers for non-destructive leak testing of various types of packaging directly on the production line. The system provides measurable and reproducible leak rates, allowing you to determine if a package maintains its integrity.

But what if you need to pinpoint the exact location of the leaks?

Using tracer gas is the right solution in that case. Tracer gas is a detectable gas that is already in - or can be introduced into - a package to identify leaks. A special sniffer leak detector is then used to 'sniff' along the seal and detect any escaping gas, thus to pinpoint the leak. If your product doesn't naturally contain tracer gas, or if it's not added during the filling process, the gas must be manually injected into the package. This is not an easy task.

In the food industry, hydrogen is typically used as a tracer gas since helium is relatively expensive. The gas is injected into the package using a needle, which not only appears somewhat risky but also poses a practical challenge: in an already well-filled package, there may be limited space left for a sufficient amount of tracer gas. This can make it difficult to accurately identify leaks, as the small volume of gas may not escape in measurable quantities.

Advanced Leak Detection Solution

With the unique combination of TGF11 Tracer Gas Filler and Sensistor Sentrac Hydrogen Leak Detector, INFICON offers the ideal solution to make this process as simple as possible, while maintaining high sensitivity. This system ensures that even the smallest leaks are accurately located and measured, enabling manufacturers to maintain the highest levels of product quality and safety.

Sentrac and TGF11 for packaging leak test

TGF11: Precise and Efficient Tracer Gas Filling

The TGF11 Tracer Gas Filler is designed to fill packages with tracer gas mixtures, such as forming gas (a mix of 95% nitrogen and 5% hydrogen). The process starts with an evacuation phase, where the air in the package is removed over a period of time. Once evacuated, the package is filled with the tracer gas up to a predefined pressure. By precisely controlling the amount of tracer gas introduced, the TGF11 ensures that the package is filled uniformly, minimizing the risk of error and ensuring that even the smallest leaks can be detected.

Maintaining the correct tracer gas concentration is critical because the higher the tracer gas concentration, the smaller the detectable leaks. The TGF11 allows fine-tuned control, making it an essential tool for applications requiring the highest sensitivity. In addition, the TGF11 prevents contamination of the leak test station by evacuating the tracer gas immediately after testing, making it a safe and efficient tool for industrial environments.

Sensistor Sentrac: Cutting-Edge Hydrogen Leak Detection

The Sensistor Sentrac Hydrogen Leak Detector is the heart of the system and complements the TGF11 perfectly by providing rapid and accurate leak location. The unit uses hydrogen as a tracer gas to detect even the smallest leaks. Once the package has been filled with tracer gas, Sentrac’s highly sensitive sniffer probe easily detects any escaping hydrogen molecules, precisely pinpointing the leak location.

Are you a packaging manufacturer and want to know more about the Sentrac leak detector for leak testing of packages? Check out our flyer!

A Reliable and Flexible Solution for All Types of Packaging

The TGF11 and Sensistor Sentrac system is highly adaptable and suitable for testing a variety of packaging types, from sensitive food and medical products to robust industrial containers, and for applications where high tightness standards and short test cycles are required. The quick recovery time and high sensitivity offered by the Sentrac leak detector ensure efficient throughput, even on busy production lines, and allow precise leak pinpointing after that an integral test indicate the presence of a defect.

leak detection for packaging applications

Furthermore, this setup is particularly useful for manufacturers looking to identify specific sources of leaks, such as weaknesses in sealing equipment or damage occurring during the packaging process. By detecting and locating even the smallest microleaks, the TGF11 and Sentrac combination provides manufacturers with the insights they need to improve their processes, reduce waste, and maintain product integrity.

Are you interested in leak detection solutions for modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)?

In modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), typically CO₂ is used to extend shelf life by inhibiting the growth of bacteria and mold. Leak detection for this type of packaging requires alternative solutions. Read more here!

Decades of experience with hydrogen tracer gas

INFICON has decades of experience with hydrogen leak detection. Read about our "Center of excellence" for leak detection with hydrogen here!