11 replies to this topic

[BAkermanjr]

I was given a N/C for not monitoring temperatures on days where the facility is closed.  We shut down on Tuesday and Saturday, with no one here on those days, and I will need a temp data logger type setup that I can get data off of when we are not present in the facility.

 

Anyone use one they love, or use one they hate, that I should stay away from?

 

TIA

[Abdullah G]

you can try using safety culture sensors. 

https://safetycultur...ensors-enquiry/

[Scampi]

where does the logger have to go?  cooler, freezer?  there are some inexpensive ones that you can plug into the computer USB and dump the data  OR do you need one capable of sending an email during the down days?

[AZuzack]

My previous employer used Madgetech devices.  I think some of them are able to connect to wifi to be accessible remotely.  We just bought the ones that needed their USB device to connect to a computer with their downloadable software.  Data could be exported to excel.  I wanted to include a link to their temperature data loggers and found this device on their website.  We did not use  rftemp2000a.  We used the microtemp probes.    

 

https://www.madgetec...ts/rftemp2000a/

 

I'm not sure what you have on site that has to stay cold.  A lot of refrigeration system have something monitoring the temperatures that can send temperature deviation alerts.  Most Coolers/Freezers are built to maintain temperature for short periods of outages.  You may want to review how you handed the temperature tracking and control in your risk assessments.  

 

My current employer has documented that their coolers can hold temperature at an acceptable level for 48hours without power.  We monitor the temps and the system but don't really need to.  

[BAkermanjr]

We have 10 freezers on site, 9/10 are Conex type reefer trailers that are running 24/7, and are never turned off.  They are all wired to temperature probes that come inside the facility that have low temp audible alarms tied into them, that will alert if they go above freezing, at all.  Constant beep that can be heard from a good distance away.

 

The 10th freezer is a 2000sqft walk in type freezer, that is wired with the same alarm set up.

 

Then we have a cooler to store yeast in, that is wired the same, but settings are different.

 

So, it seems that the easiest way to go about this, is to do my research and write into my policy that even with a failure, given normal temperatures form the previous 24 hours, the frozen/refrigerated products are good up to a certain point without checking on them.  I'll start looking into some research and see if I can dig up anything verifying that they will hold temps for X amount of time.

[Scampi]

 

So, it seems that the easiest way to go about this, is to do my research and write into my policy that even with a failure, given normal temperatures form the previous 24 hours, the frozen/refrigerated products are good up to a certain point without checking on them.  I'll start looking into some research and see if I can dig up anything verifying that they will hold temps for X amount of time.

 

 

You need to include what you will do if the temps were outside of range...........what if your refers run out of fuel?  who's checking fuel levels and recording that?

[AZuzack]

Reefers plugged into the building's electric?  

 

I don't know if Reefer Trailers are insulated well enough to hold temperature.  I think the one refrigerated trailer at my previous employer did send Temp deviation notices so maybe yours are equipped to do that and it just hasn't been used/set up.  10 is lot to keep track of.  

 

You could create your own study, fill a trailer with packaging and bottles of water to the extent you would normally fill a trailer.  Get the water to trailer temp and cut the power.  Monitor the temperature for 24hours at various points in the trailer.  Make sure you try it when it's hot out.  

[BAkermanjr]

So, reefers are all electric, no fuel, but rely on city power. 
We have it written that if and when power goes out, a box is to be sacrificed to determine that product remained frozen so that we can deem it safe to send.  This of course goes into the Hold Procedure, with a sign off from upper management.  Good thing is, out of the 26 years of me being here, and the way our power comes in from the city, we have lost power all of 2 times, and it was due to catastrophic hurricanes. 

[jfrey123]

So, reefers are all electric, no fuel, but rely on city power. 
We have it written that if and when power goes out, a box is to be sacrificed to determine that product remained frozen so that we can deem it safe to send.

 

For my freezer in my garage, I have a frozen cup of water with a quarter on top of the ice inside.  If I ever come back from a vacation and see the quarter is frozen inside the ice, I know the freezer failed at some point and I should discard the food.

 

That's pretty much how I'm seeing your example, and I would find fault with that for a food production facility.  It lacks evidence of compliance.  You should have temp loggers that record data for all cold storage areas, and you should be relying on the evidence they record instead of any other voodoo.  Sacrificing one entire storage unit and deeming that as evidence the others did or did not remain frozen is unsound and dangerous, IMHO.

[BAkermanjr]

For my freezer in my garage, I have a frozen cup of water with a quarter on top of the ice inside.  If I ever come back from a vacation and see the quarter is frozen inside the ice, I know the freezer failed at some point and I should discard the food.

 

That's pretty much how I'm seeing your example, and I would find fault with that for a food production facility.  It lacks evidence of compliance.  You should have temp loggers that record data for all cold storage areas, and you should be relying on the evidence they record instead of any other voodoo.  Sacrificing one entire storage unit and deeming that as evidence the others did or did not remain frozen is unsound and dangerous, IMHO.

I think we are misunderstanding each other. 

 

Power goes out, we find out about it at whatever time, that day, or the next day.  Freezer that has product in it will be opened, and out of the possible 600 cases in that particular freezer, we will pull one case, closest to the door, as that is where the heat is highest, and temp check it to determine if the product is safe/viable to sell.  We will do this 10x.  Not sacrifice the whole 10 trailers based on the readings of one case of product

[GMO]

I suppose my question would be, did it stay frozen or refreeze?  A single measurement, even a destructive one does not tell you that.

 

You can get super cheap blue tooth monitors and ultimately, just calibrate them back to a national standard probe.  But if you want a decent system, you really need one that alerts you when you're not there and temperatures fail.  I have a deep concern for systems which are based upon someone checking or someone downloading something.  You know, I mean YOU KNOW that sometimes someone will just go "yeah, it's fine..."  You need something to actively tell you there's been a non conformity in your absence (to my mind) not relying on someone to download some data etc.  It's just prone to people / culture related failure.

[nwilson]

I've used these in the past and they will alert if the WIFI cuts out in addition to temperature out of spec or power failure.  Emails and text messages.  There are split units with one devise and 2 probes to save on costs.  For the piece of mind of knowing what is going on in the temperature controlled environment as well as compliance using data loggers is no brainer for me.  

https://www.comarkin...re-data-logger/