As British Frozen Food Federation president Karen McQuade calls for an industry-wide debate around raising the standard temperature for frozen food, Peter Ewers, MIET, our Business Development Manager looks at the importance of end-to-end accurate data logging to maintain food safety in the supply chain.

In the food and beverage processing industries where product temperature must be accurately maintained throughout the supply chain, cold chain management is a critical component of quality assurance. Products can become spoiled or unsafe for consumption without careful monitoring and maintaining the correct temperatures, resulting in significant lost revenue.  It is therefore essential to ensure that every stopping point or point where a product can drop out of the correct cold storage temperature is considered. This includes during transportation, distribution, while waiting to be processed or delivered to the end consumer.

The recent proposal by the Cold Chain Federation (CCF) and the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) to support an increase in the temperature at which frozen food is stored and transported from -18 to -15°C could have significant impact on the food industry. While there are benefits - the increase in temperature will significantly reduce cost and will support the reduction of carbon emissions as well as helping to extend product shelf life, it could present challenges in the cold supply chain and potentially in food safety

Product quality and safety

Effective cold chain supply management – including humidity and temperature control – is crucial for ensuring that products remain safe and effective throughout their cold chain shelf life from the producer to the consumer and this is particularly true with perishable foods such as meat and dairy produce. If temperatures exceed a certain level during shipping or storage, products may become damaged or even hazardous to consume. Cold chain management helps ensure that all products sustain the correct temperature from production to delivery, thus keeping them safe for consumers

Reduced spoilage

In addition to safety concerns, temperature fluctuations can lead to food spoilage causing significant financial losses for suppliers, retailers, and logistics businesses. By closely monitoring temperatures via sensors and data analytics, companies can see temperatures throughout the supply chain in real time, so reduce the risk of spoilage by quickly detecting any issues arising from improper handling or storage conditions.

End to end data capture

It is sometimes easy for food manufacturers to consider that once a product or ingredient has left the processing site, where all HACCP pinch points should be accurately recorded to meet BRC requirements, it is someone else’s responsibility. While temperature-controlled delivery will identify and log temperature within the vehicle, there will be other points further down the line when those products are moved from transportation and placed into cold storage. At this stage the food manufacturer loses sight of the product for which they are ultimately accountable in the supply chain; what happens when the product is dropped off at the store and how long is it left until being stored? These windows mean possible changes in temperature at that point in time are not being logged.

Signatrol has recently marketed the tempmate® GM2 real time tracker and data logger that can be used at every step of the cold chain giving the food manufacturer complete oversight of their products’ position, temperature, humidity, light level and shock at any point in its journey, all from the same system. 

The tempmate®-GM2 not only monitors the temperature of the goods, but is also a reliable partner in humidity, light incidence, tilt, shock, localisation and extreme temperature ranges from -200°C to +100°C. With this reusable device, food manufacturers also have the flexibility to choose between stationary or mobile monitoring and benefit from the automatic flight mode, allowing them to select the appropriate means of transportation.