Cold Holding and Data Loggers

Where do they fit into your food safety plan?

If you’re running a restaurant, grocery store, or any other business that handles food, then you know the importance of food safety. One of the key aspects of keeping food safe is making sure it’s being stored at the correct temperature to keep it out of the Danger Zone.

Avoid the Danger Zone

The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines the Danger Zone as:“The temperature range between 40 °F (4.4 ºC) and 140 °F (60 ºC) in which bacteria can grow rapidly.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code gives a slightly different range for large chains: between 41–135°F (5–57°C).

Whichever range you reference, the purpose is to guard against food contamination which occurs at very specific temperatures.

The #1 Food Safety Risk for all food industries is Improper Holding Temps, specifically Cold Holding according to the FDA Food Code. With a properly installed datalogger you can fix this today!

Common Worries About Cold Holding

Holding temperatures are the key to preventing bacteria growth and foodborne illness. You have cold holding equipment (walk-ins, fridges, freezers, etc.) to maintain these temperatures. But business owners have expressed some of the following concerns about their current cold holding equipment and system:

• How do I know my refrigerators are maintaining proper temps?
• Can I trust the display on my walk-in?
• How will I know if my cold holding system fails?
• Is there still a way to salvage my product if the system does fail?

All of these questions are valid and deserve an answer. Learn the secret many top national chains know about monitoring their cold holding and preventing foodborne illness…the best way to ensure the integrity of your operations is to automate your cold holding temperature recordings with data loggers.

What Are Data Loggers?

Data loggers are devices that monitor and record temperature and/or humidity readings at specific intervals. Data Loggers that are connected to your network can alert you the moment any of your cold holding equipment falls out of compliance. The stored information can also be used to verify that food is being stored and handled at the correct temperature for inspection purposes, all without having to manually collect any temperature readings. 

Data loggers are often used in cold holding storage, such as walk-in refrigerators or freezers, to provide an extra level of safety and food code compliance.

How Data Loggers Help Your Business

Data Loggers are a cost-effective system that gives your business a strategic advantage in food safety.

Verified Accuracy

Take accurate readings automatically. Never stress about training your employees on the correct way to take temperature readings. No more worrying about missing a required checklists event due to employee schedules or busy days. Set your logging internal to occur at the time and frequency that YOU decide. Let technology do the hard work for you.

Save Time and Money

Time is money. Save both with data loggers. If your current monitoring system involve save in lost food assets manual temp checks, your cost comes in both time and labor. Save an average of $15,000 per location for a $300 investment (cost of 1 employee checking four fridges, four times per day).

Get Immediate Alerts

Many data loggers come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities that give a business owner faster response times in the event of an equipment malfunction. Faster alerts mean faster action to prevent loss in inventory and profits.

Easy Data Recall

When you’re running a business that handles food, you understand the importance of record-keeping. Health inspections are standard procedure. Make your life easier (and health inspectors happy) by retrieving your logs and showing consistent temperature compliance with a few simple clicks. If an operator could pull up the last six months of compliant cooler data, that’s phenomenal for demonstrating consistent compliance over a long period of time.

How to Select the Right Data Logger for Your Operation

Here at ThermoWorks, we offer a wide variety of loggers to fit many unique temperature requirements. See our data logger recommendations for the most common temperature needs:

Do you have numerous walk-in coolers or freezers?

Includes the bracket, the magnet, your glass bead bottles, and the probes associated with what you’re going to need to get a complete setup. Investment costs start at $400; protects $1000s of dollars worth of food assets. Great for food service.

Do you have a large facility or extreme temperatures?

Commonly used in cold storage facilities inside of their coolers and freezers. Can easily monitor temperature extremes. One client successfully monitors temps reaching -2℉ and uses a Wi-Fi repeater to monitor 20,000 square-foot coolers or freezers for extended time periods.

Are you involved in Food Processing or need to track both temperature and humidity?

Best when you want to monitor temperature and humidity at the same time. Fixed temperature and humidity designed inside of the unit so  there’s not an external probe. Great for curing meats, cannabis processing, etc. Used for any application where you don’t need temperature and humidity.

Are you just looking to monitor Food Storage with an ambient temperature logger?

Used to gather and track ambient temperature of a room, fridge, or storage area. Past clients used these loggers for produce facilities in their ripening rooms where the temperature had to stay below 45 degrees for tomatoes or bananas or other things like that. Ideal for inside a cooler, storage or warehouse.

Ready to Automate Your Cold Holding with Data Loggers?

Let ThermoWorks help. Our temperature experts have helped hundreds of operations just like yours craft solutions that are fitted to their specific needs.

Chris Brown and Brian Packer, Senior Sales Executives, are ready and willing to consult with you about your unique cold holding needs.

Save time. Save product. Enjoy peace of mind with automatic temperature logging with data loggers from ThermoWorks.

How Can I Help?
Bring us your toughest temperature challenges and we’ll find solutions. Whether you’re trying to improve line checks, cooler monitoring, cook-chill, or just want to go paperless, we can help! Let’s schedule a temperature food safety audit over the phone or at your facility. Call 1-800-393-6434 and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.