Traditional chart recorders for use in vehicles simply do not provide appropriate visibility of critical temperature data. Most often the information is retrieved only when a problem has occurred and the retrieval is almost always long after anything can be done to fix the problem.Temperature monitoring units developed by DAN can be fitted to any vehicle. they routinely collect information relating to the temperature in various compartments of the vehicle as well as information relating to when doors are opened.DAN temperature monitoring units for vehicles enable fleet managers to supervise from their stationary, remote location by having continual access to the latest information about what is happening on the truck. Contact DAN today on +612 8838 2358 to find out more about how DAN can help you ensure temperature compliance when your goods are on the move.

Temperature remains a critical parameter across a number of activities and industries. Whether you are storing food, storing laboratory samples or simply heating something to a safe temperature where bacteria is eliminated knowing that an appropriate temperature has been reached or is being maintained is of critical importance. Lives can and do depend upon it!Data Acquisition Networks specialises in temperature monitoring. With an extensive range of product DAN collects data and automatically stores that data, sending alarm messages when things go wrong.Temperature monitoring has never been so easy. For more information contact DAN on +61 2 88382358

Food authorities around the civilised world require companies to produce food that is safe to eat. There are many aspects of food handling, testing and storage that contribute to safety and monitoring and recording temperature at various points is amongst the most important.

Data Acquisition Networks has developed a temperature monitoring system for food products that enables routine collection of temperature data as well as routine input of deep-meat and cooking temperatures. DAN’s temperature monitoring system for food products collects data and sends it to a website where it is available in the same way as we all access our bank account details every day. Therefore it is available to us but not to anyone else that we do not wish to have access to the data.

Contact DAN today (+612 88382358) to find out more about how our food monitoring systems can help you. You may also find the following document of interest. Food Safety

Monitoring of temperature is important in a variety of applications.

In the food industry there is a need to  monitor deep-meat temperatures and storage temperatures. In schools there is a need to monitor the temperature of the classrooms in which children learn.

Traditionally people have taken random temperature recordings during a day. Not always at the same time of the day and sometimes, people forget and then catch-up the next day. The outcome has been misleading information on which decisions cannot be made.

Data Acquisition Networks provides a range of data monitoring solutions that ensure routine data collection becomes a part of every day. No mistakes and no misleading information. Talk to DAN today (+612 8838 2358) about how our solutions can resolve your data monitoring issues. 

Data Acquisition Networks has recently released the DE20 a powerful data logger and data control centre that has extended primary functionality.

The DE20 can not only routinely collect and record the temperature of food storage areas and sanitising temperatures but can also facilitate data capture though manual entry. Information such as chlorine levels for food sanitising or deep meat temperatures can be determined and then manually input to the DE20 from where the data is routinely transmitted to the website and retrieved as required and permanently stored.

The DE20 recognises alarm conditions and can arrange for alarms to be immediately sent to those you designate.

Data Acquisition Networks is committed to continuous improvement in the simplicity and certainty of data collection and the DE20 is a ‘watershed’ model in the context of that ambition.

Contact DAN today on +62 2 8838 2358 for more information about the DE20 data logger. 

Chilled, frozen or even ‘controlled ambient’ storage is always done with a single purpose and that is to preserve what is being stored. That is to make it last longer and stay purer! When storage temperatures stray there is a detrimental and lasting impact on the item, quite often to the point where it becomes unusable and needs to be discarded!

Conventional temperature monitoring systems just do not get the job done. They often rely upon manual record-taking or at best rely upon someone being aware a gauge is showing a wrong or inappropriate reading. We have all seen situations where alarms become so frequent people just continue working around them rather than taking corrective action.

Data Acquisition Networks has solved the problem of temperature monitoring!

The DAN system polls the temperature inputs 19 times each second. With uninterrupted and continuous power supply the DAN temperature monitoring system sends data records to a website each half-hour showing a maximum, minimum and an average for the period. DAN system recognise an alarm condition immediately and send alarms immediately by SMS and email and if required, provide audible alarms. All alarm messages are logged so you always know when it was sent and who got it!

Data retrieval is achieved in much the same way as you log onto your bank account by use of a user name and password. There is a facility on the console page for operators to record what action was taken when problems occurred.

DAN remote temperature monitoring systems provide permanent, time-stamped records and are the next best thing, even better in fact, than you standing there yourself 24/7 taking care of your valuable asset.

DAN remote temperature monitoring systems are also amazingly inexpensive!

Contact DAN on +612 8838 2358 to find out more and for an obligation-free quotation.

Equipment recently installed in a large food storage area to monitor food storage temperatures revealed some astonishing results. The catering company knew there was a problem with storage temperatures because many of the food products stored were not surviving until their expiry date and because when the caterer bench-marked themselves against similar companies their energy bills were 12% to 17% higher varying only by the time of the year. The caterer was determined to show the suppliers of their refrigeration equipment that all was not as it should be and to force remedial action. The refrigeration company had undertaken tests on the equipment and found it to be in good functioning order.

Data Acquisition Networks installed temperature monitoring equipment in both the cold room and freezer. In addition, a simulated product temperature probe was installed in each by using a probe encased in a solution that provided the same thermal barrier protection as food packaging. DAN also installed magnetic switches so the door ‘openings’ could be monitored and correlated to temperature.

Within days the picture was clear. Workers in the catering organisation were propping the door open whilst they went in and out to retrieve food for preparation. The caterer received an alarm whenever the door was opened for a protracted period and not surprisingly the losses of temperature correlated with these occasions. Particularly shift staff, who had not been adequately trained and who worked largely unsupervised were the cause of the problem.

The refrigeration equipment did not need to be repaired. There was simply a need to help staff to understand that warm air penetrating the freezer and cold room had a dramatic effect on the storage temperature and also made the refrigeration plant work harder and consume more energy.

The food storage temperature problem was quickly resolved and the savings in electricity paid for the DAN equipment within months!

If you or your company is responsible for storing temperature sensitive material it is necessary to measure and record temperature data.

Data Acquisition Networks has a range of monitoring equipment that can collect data from remote sites and transmit that data to a website where it is available for access in much the same way as we all access our bank account details every day. Secure & Easy!

DAN temperature monitoring equipment is surprisingly inexpensive to install and can save you loss of materials and/or loss of reputation.

 CASE STUDY - SAFE FOOD HANDLING & STORAGE

PREAMBLE

Responsible providers of food to the public are continually seeking to identify ways to improve their quality systems and ensure their food quality procedures are more robust, more effective and less time-consuming for staff to administer. Most people experienced with quality systems know they do not take time, they SAVE TIME! Data Acquisition Networks (DAN) has worked with a large number of quality food providers and been able to inexpensively assist them to achieve their objectives.

This report has been prepared by Data Acquisition Networks (DAN) using data from one such provider that believed they were achieving high quality standards but came to understand with the benefit of automated monitoring that improvements were required. Peter Davis is a Director of Data Acquisition Networks and has extensive food industry experience covering food manufacturing, hospitality and food service distribution and wholesaling. DAN is a data management company. In compiling this report DAN has relied upon authoritative sources that have been identified in the report as well as accepted food industry custom and practice. The report should be read against this background and input from recognised food experts should be taken rather than relying solely upon the conclusions drawn herein.

FOOD STORAGE

Food Standards Australia[1] requires businesses to prepare and sell food that is safe to eat. Food causes illness because there are high levels of food-poisoning bacteria and these poisons are called toxins. “A way of preventing or limiting bacteria from multiplying or producing toxins in food is to control the temperature of the food by either keeping it cold or very hot”. Food Standards Australia requires potentially hazardous foods to be kept at 5degC or colder and prescribes that it is “safe for food to be between 5degC and 60degC for a limited time only“. Health regulators and inspectors commonly refer to the range between 5degC and 60degC as the DANGER ZONE for perishable foods. Food Standards Australia defines potentially hazardous foods as foods that might contain food-poisoning bacteria and which will allow food-poisoning bacteria to multiply. Examples of potentially hazardous foods are listed as raw and cooked meat, smallgoods, dairy products, seafood, processed fruit and vegetables, cooked rice and pasta, foods containing eggs, beans and nuts and foods that contain these foods for example sandwiches and rolls. Many of these food types are also the foods that are inclusions in a balanced and nutritious diet.

Food Standards Australia also requires that potentially hazardous frozen foods are kept frozen when they are stored, displayed or transported. Whilst no specific temperature is specified for frozen food it must be kept frozen to remain safe. Temperature abuse of frozen food can also have a detrimental impact on eating quality. It is commonly accepted that -18degC is a safe temperature at which frozen food should be stored. It is also generally agreed that infrequent but consistent temperature abuse can have a detrimental impact on the shelf-life of food and with some foods temperature abuse can also affect its nutrient value.

Food Standards Australia prescribes food that has been temperature abused for a continuous period of greater than 4-hours should be discarded. The NSW Food Authority[2] recommends perishable foods should not be left in the danger zone for longer than 2-hours!

ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE DATA

In order to undertake an appropriate analysis of the sample data a 3-month period was selected at random and used. This period covers part of the warmer end to summer as well as a period during the early onset of autumn. In practice however outside air temperature is only one influence on food storage temperature.

During the 3-month period under review the DAN Safe Food Monitoring System sent 4,275 data block sets to the website. Each data block set provided an average, a maximum and a minimum temperature for the fridge and the freezer for the half-hour reporting period. The DAN Safe Food Monitoring System also provides alarms when specified control points are reached. In this case the control points were set at >-16.5degC for the freezer and >+5degC for the refrigerated storage area. During the 3-month period under review the DAN Safe Food Monitoring System notified 462 alarm conditions some of which were reset alarms.

On 86 separate occasions during the 3-month period the temperature of the freezer storage area was reported by the DAN Safe Food Monitoring System to have been at a temperature of greater than -16.5degC for more than 45 minutes. On 7 occasions the freezer food storage area was >-10degC for more than 20 minutes. On 547 separate occasions during the 3-month period the maximum temperature recorded during a single reporting period exceeded >-10degC. There was no single day during the 3-month period when, at some stage during the day, the maximum recorded temperature in the frozen food storage room did not peak at >-5degC and on February 1^st the frozen food storage room recorded a maximum temperature reached during the day of +3.4degC. Given the incidence of temperature maximums >-5degC on many days it is probable frozen food product would have thawed only to be later re-frozen.

The refrigerated storage area during the 3-months under review was > 5degC for 10 minutes on 84 separate occasions. On 253 separate occasions the maximum temperature recorded for a reporting period was greater than +7degC with a maximum of +11.4degC recorded on February 16^th which is well inside the danger zone for perishable product.  

It should be noted these are the maximum temperatures recorded in any reporting period and that food spoilage is a function of temperature and time. Having said that, any perishable food storage area that has a high frequency of reaching Danger Zone Temperatures has a heightened risk of bacteria growth.

It is important to note that a manual temperature monitoring protocol formerly used on this sample site had not previously indicated this extent of temperature problem. Manual readings have historically been taken by a staff member at prescribed times during the day when temperature abuse was less severe. There is absolutely no suggestion these times were selected for that reason but rather, that the times when temperatures were recorded in accordance with standard procedures, were times when there was less activity and less traffic around the storage areas. As a consequence of less activity, the doors to the storage areas were less frequently open.

Based upon the sample analysis contained herein it is clear that despite genuine efforts by staff to manually monitor temperature, frozen product is likely to have thawed and then re-frozen on 10 or 11 occasions during the 3-month period under review. This estimate is based upon those days where the continuance of high temperature over a larger number of reporting intervals and the maximum temperatures recorded would normally be expected to have resulted in some product thawing.

In the case of chilled product there were 7 occasions on which product arguably stayed high enough in the DANGER ZONE for long enough for concern to be raised. Only microbiological testing and a correlation with time & temperature abuse could fully conclude the outcome.

It is reasonable to conclude however that at best the frozen and chilled product stored over the period under review is sub-optimal and heightens the risk of foodborne illness amongst the consuming public. As a secondary but never-the-less important consideration, the eating quality of food is likely to have been compromised across some food types.

Manual recording regimes with data taken say twice daily never reveal the full extent of temperature abuse. Electronic automated systems such as the DAN Safe Food Monitoring System used for collection of this sample data facilitate the correlation of time and temperature abuse with microbial testing. On this basis informed decisions are able to be made as to shelf-life reduction, requirement for immediate usage and instruction to discard. Not only does automated electronic monitoring enable corrective action to be taken to ensure temperature is maintained but correlation of microbial contamination with time & temperature data can mean food is able to be retained when it might otherwise be discarded.

For some it can be difficult and even threatening to conduct automated monitoring of food storage under their control as it subjects a process and procedures to more routine and much closer examination, more reliable and closer scrutiny whereas for others, using data objectively is seen as a way to improve performance. It was the latter quality of thinking that DAN found in this outlet and they are to be commended for their commitment to quality and food safety.

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[1] Food Safety: Temperature control of potentially hazardous foods. Guidance on the temperature control requirements of Standard 3.2.2 Food Safety Practices and General Requirements.[2] http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumers/keeping-food-safe/#How-can-I-make-sure-my-food-is-safe

TEMPERATURE MONITORING

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Food in its various forms is highly perishable. Even food that is pasteurized deteriorates rapidly if left unrefrigerated. Food that is UHT treated becomes perishable once opened.Food that is temperature abused rapidly allows growth of micro organisms that can cause illness or death particularly when consumed by the very young, older or frail people.The best way to ensure food safety is to ensure foods are processed appropriately and then stored appropriately. Temperature monitoring such as that supplied by DAN enables storage temperatures to be reliably recorded.