West Coast processors will now have improved access to local, rapid response, off-site product inspection and anomaly screening thanks to Thermo Fisher Scientific’s new product contamination facility in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The PASS (Product Assurance Services and Solutions) facility can inspect products for processing anomalies (such as clumps), as well as broken or missing components (partially-filled trays, etc.). The new facility is uniquely positioned to serve California’s Central Valley, a major North American fruit and vegetable production area.

“We are here to help customers get accurate and reliable results, so that they are able to make informed decisions affecting the safety of the public,” says Darren Eaton, global manager, PASS. “By locating this facility in close proximity to this high production area, we help reduce the turn-around time and expense associated with urgent product contamination inspection issues.”

In addition to off-site contamination/anomaly screening, trained technicians perform onsite services for local companies. Service technicians have access to all of the equipment, and additional equipment can be obtained to facilitate rapid evaluation of multiple truckload quantities.

PASS facilities handle a broad range of metal, glass, plastic or paper packaging types, including both rigid and flexible structures such as steel cans, metalized film, plastic bottles, blister packs, folding cartons, multi-layer materials and more.

This is Thermo Fisher's third U.S. PASS facility, followed by its Sugar Land, Texas, location, which opened  last June, and its first PASS facility in Barrington, Ill., in 2010.