Every food company has to make sure the food will stay edible as long as it is within the company´s area of control. To that end it has to consider what could possibly go wrong and develop and install counter measures, as appropriate. This course of action is described with the term HACCP: hazard analysis and critical control points. In some countries, such as within all of the EU, having and observing an HACCP concept is statutory.
One of the hazards is decay of cooled food due to exceeding the required temperatures. In order to avoid this, the cool chain must be maintained at all times. Frequent temperature control e.g. in cooling rooms, refrigerators or during transports is mandatory. ebro provides various different measurement systems for all of these applications: simple handheld devices for spot checks, data loggers for storage monitoring, automatic monitoring systems as well as Bluetooth thermometers. The latter enable in combination with HACCP software such as RMoniWeb the digitalization of check lists – ideal for the HACCP documentation!
Another application is the test of the oil quality in fryers. It can be hard to determine for how much longer the frying oil may be used. Commercial test strips often are hard to interpret and in the long run expensive. Electronic oil testers such as the FOM 330 BT are the better choice – especially due to its ability to communicate with HACCP softwares, just like the thermometers.
Measuring temperature
The thermometers are based on a successful concept to control the temperature in stock, cooling rooms, refrigerators and during incoming goods inspections. They can measure both surface and core temperature, can be read in dark Environments due to the display backlight and are light and handy. What´s new is the option to store measurement data in the device and to forward it to a software via Bluetooth.
Lower cost
The thermometers save the data digitally in ist memory. Therefore it´s not necessary any longer to carry along pen, paper and clipboard additionally. Thus, temperature control is much faster and more efficient. This saves time and therefore money. Also, the devices have a rechargeable battery, sparing frequent battery changes.
Optimize processes
The ebro® HACCP system offers numerous simplifications compared to conventional temperature control. Both measuring and storing the data can be done with few buttons to press or mouse clicks. This high degree of automation reduces the effort and the risk of failure.
Define HACCP tasks
Complying to the relevant EU regulations for Food safety requires to introduce control mechanisms, create cleaning instructions and define other tasks. All of these can be entered in the software of the ebro® HACCP system easily and extremely flexible. The tasks and dates for the cleaning and measurement personnel arise from those measures, and the system will inform, remind and guide them.
Keep control
The ebro® HACCP system offers the option to identify measurement locations and the personnel via NFC tags. This works similarly to cards for clocking out. Among other things, the tags are there to confirm the right person has measured at the right location. These data can be checked in the software later on. Thus, the fulfillment of the previously defined tasks can be followed easily.
Create reports
The ebro® HACCP system can not only store measurement data, but also date, time and the Location of each measurement, as well as the identifier of the measurement personnel. Therefore, all relevant data are stored in a database. These data can later be examined at any time. An annual report of the temperature, so far a sheer impossible task due to hundreds of sheets of paper, can be created with a few mouse clicks.
Keep track
Both upcoming and fulfilled HACCP tasks are clearly presented in the software. The data of single stores or multiple sites simultaneously can be evaluated with little effort. A dashboard for the corporate and Quality management offers an overview for the big picture. Naturally, you can also go into detail if required.