FlexXray Releases Third Annual Benchmark Report on Foreign Material Contamination in Food Manufacturing

ARLINGTON, Texas, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FlexXray, the leader in foreign material inspection services for the food industry, today announced the release of the 2026 Foreign Material Contamination in Food Benchmark Report. Now in its third year, the report is based on survey responses from more than 170 food safety and manufacturing professionals across North America, offering an ongoing, data-driven look into how the industry identifies, manages, and protects against foreign material contamination in their products.

This year’s findings point to a widening gap between what food manufacturers are most likely to encounter and what their detection equipment is built to catch. Key findings include:

• A shift in the contamination profile — Plastic has overtaken metal as the most frequently reported contaminant, cited by 37% of respondents
• Internal response remains the default — 63% of producers still rely on in-house resources to manage a foreign material event
• Investment cooling, not closing the gap — The share of producers planning to increase detection investment fell from roughly 70% in 2025 to 57% in 2026, while confidence that in-line equipment catches all foreign material has remained flat

“For three years now, this report has given food safety and manufacturing leaders real industry data to benchmark their own programs against,” said Kurt Westmoreland, Chief Commercial Officer. “This year’s findings cover how often facilities are dealing with foreign material events, how confident they are in their detection equipment, how they’re investing, and how they respond when an event happens — giving teams a clear picture of where they stand relative to the rest of the industry.”

The full Foreign Material Contamination in Food Benchmark Report is available at https://flexxray.com/lp/2026-foreign-material-contamination-in-food-benchmark-report/.

For more information about FlexXray, visit https://flexxray.com/.

About FlexXray
FlexXray is the nation’s leader in foreign material inspection and remediation services for the food industry. Using advanced X-ray and CT inspection technologies, FlexXray helps food manufacturers safeguard their products, reduce waste, and protect consumers. Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, FlexXray operates facilities across the U.S. and internationally, and partners with leading food brands to solve contamination challenges with speed and precision.

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SOURCE FlexXray