Apparatus and method for detecting the presence of a particle of a ferromagnetic metal in a packaging of a paramagnetic material

An apparatus (1) for checking a packaged product (15) in order to know if said packaged product (15) is free of particles of a ferromagnetic metal or contains a particle of a ferromagnetic metal, wherein said packaged product (15) comprises a packaging comprising a paramagnetic and/or diamagnetic metal, said apparatus (1) comprising:

• a main magnet (11) providing a static magnetic field;
• a phantom body (124), said phantom body (124) being in a fixed position with respect to said main magnet (11) and comprising a composition able to generate magnetic resonance signals of elementary volumetric portions of a slice of said phantom body (124) when subject to said static magnetic field;
• a signal detection unit (12) acquiring said magnetic resonance signals generated by said elementary volumetric portions of said slice of the phantom body (124);
• and
• a control unit (13) comprising:
• a data processing unit (137) suitable for, on the basis of said magnetic resonance signals, generating an image of said slice;
• and
• an image processing module (138) suitable for comparing said image with a reference image.