Three reasons to utilize a refrigerator temperature log

Believe it or not, abuses in?time and temperature cause 85% of inventory loss?events in the foodservice industry. Therefore, to ensure the safety, quality, and longevity of your inventory, prevent equipment breakdowns, and ensure continuity of operations, you need to have a system in place that monitors the areas where you keep inventory. Read on to learn how to accomplish all that and more with Therma’s refrigerator temperature log.

Reason #1: Guaranteeing the safety, quality, and longevity of your inventory

While any amount of temperature fluctuation can affect food quality, the temperature range between 40°F to 140°F represents a?threat to the safety of your inventory. This is because bacteria flourish in warm, moist environments, making food stored within this threshold an excellent breeding ground for microorganisms that cause foodborne illness. Temperature monitoring allows you to proactively discern if your inventory was exposed to dangerous conditions. Without temperature monitoring, you may overlook a temperature excursion until it’s too late. In this situation, you will need to throw this inventory in the trash, a situation referred to as a “loss event.”

Reason #2: Preventing equipment breakdowns

There are many reasons for temperature excursions. However, one of the most common is component breakdown. New refrigeration equipment has a?10% chance of breaking down annually?due to the slow decay of components such as the compressor, piping, or gaskets. Over time, if these critical pieces begin to function sub-optimally, the conditions may exceed the 40°F threshold for long periods. If left unchecked, your cold storage will break down, spoiling your inventory and causing a stressful situation for you and your staff. All your inventory will likely need to be repurchased and prepped.

Reason #3: Ensuring continuity of operations

Without inventory or operational cold storage, your restaurant may need to be closed for prolonged periods, wasting valuable time and money. Equipment breakdowns do not resolve themselves quickly, and it may take several days for a qualified maintenance technician to replace the components and get your equipment back to a usable state. Preventing these issues can be easily solved with manual temperature monitoring.

Using a thermometer to manually monitor your cold storage equipment

The most common method of gathering temperature data manually is to use thermometers. These age-old pieces of equipment are a timeless favorite due to their accessibility and ease of use. Thermometers function according to a simple design: they consist of a sealed glass tube labeled with marks that correlate to known temperatures. The tube contains a liquid — usually mercury. As the external temperature increases, the liquid expands and rises inside the tube, revealing the current ambient temperature.

Thermometers can be positioned virtually anywhere with minimal installation time and no need to worry about networks or batteries. Additionally, your team can easily understand the data they provide. Thermometers are the cheapest and easiest way to monitor cold storage temperature, which is why they are a popular choice.

However, gathering temperature data is only half of the process. Following the gathering of data via an audit, the data should then be compiled using paper logs. When filling out paper logs, ensure that you record not just the temperature but the location, time, and date of the checks, as well as the signature of the auditor.

Therma’s refrigerator temperature log

While this information is enough to help you pass a health inspection, it may not provide the detailed information that will help maximize your inventory longevity or prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness. To help our friends in the foodservice industry gain more valuable insights from their cold storage data, we created a temperature logbook to help you predict rather than react to temperature fluctuations or warming trends.

Navigate to the link below and copy the google sheet to use this digital logbook. The document’s first page shows what your data could look like if you tracked temperatures over a week. Then, use the second tab to record your temperature data. The weekly temperature graph visualizes the data over time. We’ve provided various resources to help you interpret the log.

We recommend using the log for 7–14 days so there will be time for you to notice and analyze trends in the data. Once you have utilized the logbook for the stated amount of time, conclude the exercise by reading the second installment in this series.

Download our temperature logbook here.