India is the world’s largest producer of fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, fresh meat, etc. But even though it is one of the largest producers, there still exists a huge gap between the demand and supply. Every year, fresh products worth approximately ` 13,300 crore is wasted and thrown away due to lack of well-organized cold supply chain management system. A cold supply chain management system is basically a temperature controlled uninterrupted supply chain that includes series of transportation and storage activities of food, that are maintained at given temperatures. The system plays a critical role in the food industry, especially in terms of extending and ensuring the shelf life of products such as fresh agriculture produce, seafood, frozen food etc.
As per the various national and international reports on food wastage and cold storage in India, it has been estimated that wastage of fruits, vegetables and grains stand at ` 44,000 crore annually. The fruits and vegetables account for the largest portion of that wastage. According to the reports from the Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), the major reason for wastage is due to lack of refrigerated transport and high quality cold storage facilities for food manufacturers and sellers.
As we can see in the diagram (next page), transportation plays a major role in the cold supply chain system. But, improper transportation facilities in India have led to the rise in food wastage. According to industry estimates, around 104 million tonnes of perishable produce are transported between cities in India annually, of which 100 million tonnes is moved through non-refrigerated containers. Also, nearly 80% of refrigerated containers are used by milk and milk products alone.
Most of the vehicles used for transporting food are not well equipped to maintain the food fresh, thus leading to humongous wastage of food. Wasting food not only means losing the nutrition, but also the resources like land, water and energy that were put to use in production. Hence, it is essential to tackle the problem of food wastage that is caused due to transportation.
So, how do we tackle this problem?
As we all know that food travels hundreds of miles before they land up on the racks of the supermarket, ready for mass consumption. For transporting these perishable goods at longer distance; network of airplanes, train, and trucks with proper storage and cooling facilities are essential. Temperature management throughout the supply chain is critical to ensure the quality of perishables. The cold supply chain management becomes more challenging while dealing with the complex supply chains associated with export shipments. To match these special requirements of the transportation and shipping industry, Extech offers temperature data loggers, an equipment that monitors environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity and pressure. The Data Logger ensures the quality of goods throughout the transit.
Extech temperature data loggers play a critical role in the meat and food industry, providing vital information of temperature and humidity during transportation of food. Temperature data loggers are used to effectively measure and record the temperature of food during the regular transit from the production line to the grocery store or the end consumer. Poultry farmers who produce eggs can test their transportation mechanisms by inserting an egg temperature data logger into the egg carton and then ship it through the usual system. In this way, even the farmers are assured of systems operation. This reduces the wastage of perishable food. With Extech’s temperature data logger, one can be assured of the quality of food, whether it is being transported well, within the standards prescribed by the government. With stringent guidelines and regulations imposed on the food industry ever year, it has become essential for the food industry to opt for temperature data loggers that assure the quality of food.
What is a temperature data logger?
Data loggers are electronic devices used to monitor temperature, humidity and pressure. The device serves a wide variety of industries that are regulated and need to adhere to the prescribed standards. Food processing facilities, transportation and many medical industries are commonly equipped with temperature data loggers. These data loggers are not only used to measure temperature and humidity, but also features number of applications based on the industrial usage.
Importance of Extech’s Data Loggers in the food industry
When perishable items are to be transported, it is extremely important that they remain within a specific temperature range at all times, and ensure that the quality is not compromised. The process of safely storing and transporting materials or products needs a lot of attention. Thus, data loggers can be used to validate the cold chain process from end to end, ensuring that the food was properly stored at the correct temperatures before, during and after the transportation. Extech’s temperature data loggers are specifically designed for this vital job. The reporting software easily provides verification about the product’s safety, and is ready to use. It’s ready for distribution.
Extech’s data loggers are highly important to every food processing industry, where products need to be maintained at a suitable temperature. Many processes are temp.dependent and need to be temp. controlled. For example, it is very important for food products to remain at a certain temp.; especially the frozen items to remain below freezing point before they get to the supermarket. If not, there can be a possibility for the food to get spoiled before it reaches the end consumer, thus resulting in huge amount of food wastage. This, in turn can tarnish one’s business reputation, and also affect the demand and supply system of food in an economy. Therefore, if refrigeration is a necessity for one’s business, then an Extech’s data logger is extremely valuable and an essential device.
Benefits of Extech’s Data Loggers in the shipping industry
Shipping of products is an activity that occupies a major chunk of the consumer industry. If the business requires shipping or transporting of sensitive products or produce, it is important that the contents of the shipments remain intact on the way to the final destination. With Extech data loggers, one can keep a tab on the levels of temperature or humidity that a shipment experiences during transit. The device ensures that the shipments are properly handled and delivered, without compromising on the quality. Extech’s temperature data logger is a simple yet effective device. This device features LCD that displays wide operating temp., which ranges from -40 to 185°F (-40 to 85°C) and also tracks humidit yrange from 0 to 100% RH. Apart from this, they also record up to 16,000 readings (8,000 readings for each parameter). The data logger logs the data up to 1 year of battery life. This makes it very easy to keep a record regarding the shipments. Extech offers variety of data loggers, featured to address every need for shipping and transportation assurance. These devices are used in storage containers, shipping vans, freezers & many other industries.
Conclusion
Extech’s Temperature data loggers are used in a wide variety of industries, especially in food and transportation industry. Basically, these devices are used in places where temp. is a critical factor in storage or transportation of goods. A temperature data logger is useful and is ideal for keeping track of:
- Food fridges and freezers for food safety
- Transportation to solve problems with spoilage of goods
- Dry ice storage / transport
Extech’s temperature data logger is used in the transportation industries, especially for the temperature controlled transportation. If you are uncertain on whether the products are transported at the right temperature, then you can place the data logger inside the package – and accordingly analyse the results throughout the transit, till it reaches the final destination. In this way the temperature and humidity data loggers stand out to be the perfect way to constantly capture the temperature and humidity data for both real-time alerting and longer-term data analysis as well. The readings of the food to be transported can be taken by the transportation company at a user defined interval. It can also be downloaded onto a computer for future analysis and reference with the powerful Temperature Data Log Analyzer.
If you’re a freight/transportation company or a food manufacturer, you can use these temp. data logs for the purpose of quality control to ensure that the refrigerators work efficiently at the right temp. and the food transported are in compliance to the food safety norms. Also, you can find out the temperature variation within an area as well. All this could not only be beneficial for smooth transportation of perishable goods, but would also save a lot of wastage of food during transit.
Courtesy: Flir Systems India Pvt. Ltd.
