New loggers monitor extreme temperatures

CLIVE EMDON NEW RECORDER and logger technologies are finding increased application in the monitoring of extreme temperatures for the cooking, freezing, storage and transport of foods and raw materials, says Kelvin Price, MD of CW Price. Rules and regulations relating to the freezing of foods are increasingly being applied internationally and focus on the sale and transport of meat and fish and vegetables, and the preparation of processed foods and meals in restaurants, hotels and hospitals, he says. The technology for the recording and logging of high temperatures in the catering, food and beverage industries is an offshoot of the pharmaceutical industry, where temperatures are critical in processes such as the growth of cultures and the manufacture of medicines. An example of the technology is the use of ‘cool down’ temperature recorders which were initially developed to assist organisations in complying with regulations set by the United States Federal Food and Drug Administration for the cooling of processed foods, says Price. The FDA makes it obligatory for heated food once cooled to temperatures below +60 °C to be cooled down to below +5°C within six hours. A ‘Cool Down’ logger manufactured by Escort uses an external sensor to monitor the cooling of processed food. The logger is triggered by the temperature falling below +60°C. The cool-down process is then monitored by taking three temperature readings: One after two hours when the food must have cooled to temperatures below +21°C, the second after four hours and the third reading after six hours, when temperature should be below + 5°C. Price says that at the end of this process, the logger displays a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ message depending on whether the temperature restrictions have been achieved in the specified time frame.