The NSW Government this week passed legislation permitting the NSW Food Authority to ‘NAME & SHAME’ food businesses that “cut corners with food safety”. Minister Macdonald made it clear that food business which do “not put food safety first could suffer the consequences”. Follow the link below to the NSWFA website where more information can be found on the ‘Name & Shame’ legislation.

http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/

HACCP systems are used universally to deliver food safety and record keeping is an essential part of HACCP. Data loggers routinely and continuously collect data ensuring this critical role is not left to junior staff. Data loggers continue to collect critical control point data even when your restaurant is busy unlike your staff who can become distracted by the need to provide customer service to a growing line of people waiting to order food.

Most businesses have a licence that enables them to discharge an agreed amount of treated effluent at an agreed strength into the water system and they need to make certain they stay within the agreed levels.

Data Acquisition Networks provides data loggers that measure the volume of effluent discharged and which can take local action when that volume approaches the agreed level such as turning on/off a pump and diverting effluent into a holding tank where it can be held for subsequent discharge during the next period.

Data loggers have a variety of industrial applications. Talk to Data Acquisition Networks about your needs to monitor what your enterprise is doing and you will be surprised and how effectively and efficiently we are able to assist.

The NSW Parliament has passed (April 8th 2008) tough new laws that will give NSW consumers unprecedented access to information about breaches of food safety law. The Governments legislation will allow the NSW Food Authority to publish on its website details of food businesses that receive penalty notices for food law breaches (NAME & SHAME). A link through to the Minister’s press release is below. 

http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/mr-apr-08-name-and-shame-law-passed.asp

Data Acquisition Networks supplies data logging equipment that enables food businesses to stay ahead of the legal requirements by monitoring their HACCP program in a routine and continuous way that will protect their investment (”THE BRAND”).

Temperature for food preparation is a critical control point whether it relates to the storage temperature for chilled and frozen ingredients, deep meat temperature achieved during the cooking process or the ‘holding temperature’ for prepared food. Most HACCP systems prescribe critical temperature control points and the challenge is to put in place a system that monitors those points routinely and effectively.

Many commercial food preparers still rely upon ‘juniors’ or ’shift managers’ to remember to check temperatures at regular intervals. Experience confirms they forget when the outlet is busy and gaps in the record sheet are a problem and a ‘failure’ for HACCP accreditation. Gaps in the record sheet are also a problem if a food poisoning occurs.

Data Acquisition Networks provide a range of data logging equipment that can routinely monitor critical control point temperatures. Data is sent to a data vault on a website where it can be accessed by management and owners of the restaurant. 

Data logging equipment supplied by DAN also sends alarms when things go wrong.

The problem with many data loggers that transmit data via satellite is that the connection to the satellite can be left open and the cost can explode out of control. Data Acquisition Networks have sold the problem. DAN satellite data loggers make the connection with the satellite, verify the data has been transmitted and then shut down the connection thereby ensuring satellite costs never get out of control.

The range of data loggers from DAN including wireless, hard wired, GPRS and satellite units offer customers many unique features not found in other product. DAN is also committed to continuously improving its product and to working with its customers to achieve custom-designed data logging solutions.

Traditional data loggers in refrigerated vehicles simply monitor the ‘air-on’ and ‘air-off’ temperatures from the refrigeration unit which is a good indicator as to whether the refrigeration unit is working but of little if any value in understanding the ‘holding’ temperature of the product. DAN data loggers probe for temperature at various points inside the vehicle and always include a SIMULATED PRODUCT TEMPERATURE probe enabling transport companies and product owners to better understand the relationship between air temperature and product temperature.

Ever since humans learned to count there has been a desire and often a need to collect data. Data loggers come with different functionality and as with consideration of any purchase it is important to compare ‘like-with-like’.

DAN data loggers have a number of very unique features that are often critical to the interpretation of data and its effective use. One such feature is ‘derived data’. Because DAN data loggers transmit data to a website there is a capacity to immediately and routinely present derived data which is data calculated by the website from two or more other monitored inputs. For example, ’salinity’ is derived through monitoring by combining temperature, conductivity and depth into an internationally recognised formula. Using this formula is the only way to routinely monitor salinity in water by the use of probes.

Data loggers provided by Data Acquisition Networks have a number of unique features so when you are considering the purchase of a data logger, make sure you properly consider those things you need it to do and those things you may want it to be able to do in the future before you simply decide to purchase a basic logger that will disappoint you in its performance.

Data Acquisition Network’s (DAN’s) monitoring product has wide application in low temperature freezer storage applications in laboratories and Universities. Typically low temperature freezers: 

• Are designed to operate at temperatures between -80^OC to -150^OC
• Are each controlled by their own control system.
• As the basis of their control system they use an industry standard 4 to 20mA signal in order to maintain their set point temperature 

 Monitoring facilities are not provided as part of the basic freezer solution and may be supplied as an optional extra.   The DAN solution we provide is able to utilise existing auxiliary 4 to 20mA signals available on these units to facilitate monitoring.  The DAN monitoring solution is significantly more cost effective and provides additional features at a lower installed cost compared to any monitoring solution offered as part of a standard freezer package. Other freezers used operate in the -20^OC temperature range and operate on simple thermostat controls.  This type of unit would require separate probes to be inserted through a wall of each unit.  Installations of this type are simple and commonly undertaken with specific probes available for the purpose.  The probes connect directly to the DAN system. DAN monitoring equipment located on site (the DAN DM01 hardware) communicates with the DAN web site via the commercial mobile phone network.  The DAN website acts as a secure repository for data collected and is the interface between the user and the site monitoring hardware.  The interface on the web site permits the user to change alarm/control conditions and to alter other conditions both on the web site and at the site. This unique solution provides a flexible third party data collection and storage solution, with the capability of generating SMS and email alarms. DAN also is able to provide local wireless connectivity between the probes and the DM01 unit in order for data to be collected from remote points and then sent to the web site.  Such a local wireless network is capable of communicating over distances of up to 2klm. Dan’s solution is compatible with almost any probe available on the market today, and is also able to be linked with the vast majority of capital equipment being manufactured.  The DAN solution has been designed and manufactured in Australia, and has been successfully marketed here for over four years.