Contest locates working 1973 metal detector: a bakery is found to have the oldest operational Goring Kerr metal detector—and wins a new one as a prize

Food & Drug Packaging, Jan, 2005

It might be a stretch to boast that the discovery of the food industry's oldest working Goring Kerr metal detector is the biggest news to rise from the ovens of Butter Krust Bakery Co. since sliced bread.

But the fact is that Butter Krust--based in Sunbury, Pa., and one of the largest and oldest family-owned bakeries in the nation--does claim the title as first bakery east of the Mississippi to offer sliced bread in the 1930s.

Late last year Thermo Electron Corp., the parent company of the Goring Kerr brand, conducted a nationwide promotional contest spotlighting Goring Kerr's 50-plus years of making dependable metal detectors. The result: Butter Krust now has been crowned as owner of the Goring Kerr detector with the greatest longevity. So in the world of food industry bragging rights, that truly puts Goring Kerr right up there next to sliced bread.

The history-making detector was identified after a campaign of e-mail blasts, ads and calls to Goring Kerr customers. Butter Krust's winning unit has served faithfully since 1973.

"It looks pretty analog," says Thermo marketing communications specialist Don Bina. "There are meters on it, and it certainly looks old." The detector had been working a 400-piece-per-minute roll line before being proudly displayed at Pack Expo last November. Butter Krust's prize for having the oldest Thermo detector: a free new Goring Kerr DSP3.

The story behind the big news is that Goring Kerr, founded in 1947 by Bruce Goring Kerr and David Hiscock, has been integrated under the wide-reaching Thermo Electron brand name. By conducting this "Summer of '47" contest, Thermo was emphasizing that although the overall name has changed, they haven't changed the quality or performance that started with the founders' spirit of innovation back in 1947.

Goring Kerr, for example, was the first company to incorporate digital signal processing (DSP) technology in metal detectors, setting the standard for detection sensitivity. AuditCheck, a patented device that validates the performance of the detector, is incorporated into the Goring Kerr DSP3. The most recent innovation in the product line is the DSP IP model, which is certified to IP69k standards for the high-temperature, high-pressure, wash-down environments critical in the cheese, meat and poultry businesses.

Butter Krust, meanwhile, continues building on a history that began when Benjamin Apple founded his wholesale bakery in 1920. Current fourth-generation members of the family-owned business likely were in diapers when its venerable 1973 Goring Kerr unit first came online in Sunbury. Today, Butter Krust's market reaches across Pennsylvania and into New York, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

"Quality is our No. 1 ingredient," says Don Brubaker, a project manager at Butter Krust, "and that carries over into the equipment the Apple family buys."

For More Information:

Thermo Electron Corp.

877-290-7422; www.thermo.com/food