Resolving a Product Quality Issue for a Major Cheese Factory
Food Manufacturing $100,000 saved High-Impact (>$100K) HEPA Filtration Product Quality 2025-06-06

Resolving a Product Quality Issue for a Major Cheese Factory

A practical example of how filtration can make or break food safety.

Unified ROI Framework

$100,000 product loss eliminated by switching to separator-free HEPA filters that stopped metal flake contamination of packaged cheese — resolving a food safety crisis that threatened the customer's entire dairy supply chain

Direct ROI
Total Documented
$100,000 product loss avoided and eliminated
Operational Excellence
Quality
Metal flake contamination eliminated — critical food safety improvement protecting cheese quality and regulatory compliance
Safety
Food safety compliance restored — metal contamination in packaged food is a serious regulatory violation and consumer safety hazard
Soft Savings
A single product recall in dairy can cost millions — prevention value far exceeds the $100K in direct product loss avoided
ESG Overlay

$100,000 in cheese product loss prevented by eliminating metal HEPA separator contamination — protecting food safety, reducing food waste, and securing dairy supply chain integrity

Sustainability
Metal-free HEPA eliminates metal separator waste from food processing environment
Waste
Eliminated metal separator disposal and $100K in wasted cheese product — reduces food waste and packaging waste
Food SafetyFood Waste ReductionMetal-Free FiltrationConsumer ProtectionDairy Supply Chain

The company involved in this case study is a large cheese manufacturer located in the South Dakota area that makes cheese, whey, lactose, and anhydrous milk fat products for some of the largest food brands in the world. At the time they reached out to TFS for assistance, they were not yet a customer.

Challenge

The company was experiencing quality issues in the final stage of their process, which consisted of “blowing off” large blocks of cheese before being packaged and shipped to food processing companies.

They contacted Total Filtration Services to help determine a solution for their quality issues, as they were finding metal flakes on the blocks of cheese, which had already
caused them to throw away a large batch of product.

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After surveying the area of concern, TFS found the particles (metal flakes) were coming from the metal separators on the HEPA filters. Because the separators weren't necessary in this application, TFS proposed switching to a similarly performing filter without the metal separators. Due to strong relationships with manufacturing partners, identifying the replacement filter was a short process.

Explaining HEPA

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RENSA Deep Pleat HEPA Filter

HEPA is an acronym for "High-Efficiency
Particulate Air" or "HighEfficiency Particulate Arrestance." This
acronym refers to a mechanical air filter that is manufactured, tested,
certified, and labeled in accordance with current HEPA filter standards. it works by forcing air through a fine mesh that traps harmful particles.

Total Filtration Services partners with multiple trusted manufacturers of HEPA filters and can assist you with selecting the right model for your application.

Connect with A HEPA expert today

The customer embraced the recommended solution to replace the existing HEPA filters with a new brand and model without the metal separators. They were satisfied to learn that the quality issue went away and that TFS brought a technical solution which solved a problem causing product loss costing $100,000. TFS was later asked to supply several other types of filtration products for applications throughout their facility.

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