Infrared thermometers for goods temperature check during receiving?
Hello everyone. I am working in a logistics company which operates with goods with different temperature regimes.
One of our CCPs is temperature, and especially in goods receiving.
Right now am questioning our thermometers that we are using during goods acception in the warehouse. So about the situation:
Warehouse temperatures (different chambers) +6C, +2C and -20C.
Due to amount of goods income and limited space in receiving area we do not want to use needle thermometers to check incoming goods temperature because they are working quite slow.
What is your opinion about Infrared thermometers? Is it valid to use them for goods temperature check during receiving? Can You recommend some with good accuracy?
Thanks in advance.
They are accurate, however, they only measure the temperature on the surface of whatever they touch..........so speaking from experience, the surface of a paperboard carton (with rock solid food stuffs in it) will be significantly warmer than the contents, so you will need to be prepared to open cartons.
That being said, the reading is instant and most do a very large temperature range.
So this is what we are doing at the moment - we are opening boxes and trying to measure as much product as we can ( i mean in packaging wise). But also most of IR thermometers has accuracy of +-2C and that is in my mind a little bit to much. Maybe someone could share what kind of equipment you are using in a similar circumstances?
So frozen solid is frozen solid and unless the product is moving in a truck for days at 0C, once palletized and wrapped the temperature of the contents is not going to budge............I always recorded the temperature the refer was set to and a visual inspection of the FROZEN skids..............in a food safety/quality standpoint..........there really is no difference between -15C and -20C
For fresh, refer temperature + random infrared readings of say 6 cartons from a full trailer
For frozen +/- 2C is no biggie.....just adjust your program to include the range of the thermometer
https://www.thermowo...for_food_safety
For fresh, I would just invest in an INSTANT read digital thermometer......this one has a longer probe and updates temp every second
https://www.thomassc...AL-THERMOMETERS
In your case, 1 thermometer probably won't do the job across the board for you
Hello everyone. I am working in a logistics company which operates with goods with different temperature regimes.
One of our CCPs is temperature, and especially in goods receiving.
Right now am questioning our thermometers that we are using during goods acception in the warehouse. So about the situation:
Warehouse temperatures (different chambers) +6C, +2C and -20C.
Due to amount of goods income and limited space in receiving area we do not want to use needle thermometers to check incoming goods temperature because they are working quite slow.
What is your opinion about Infrared thermometers? Is it valid to use them for goods temperature check during receiving? Can You recommend some with good accuracy?
Thanks in advance.
Product is unknown.
Packaging, eg size cartons, is unknown.
Frozen is less problematic than chilled IMEX.
Don't quite understand why you have 2 chilled chambers at different temperatures ?.
What is Incoming Product Temperature specification ?
Personally I have never seen IR thermometers used to check incoming goods. I doubt the (surface) accuracy is as good as you mention but welcome to be proved wrong.
The Codex method for, I think, frozen lots is to use external measurements based on closely-contacting packaged product. Logically using a calibrated thermocouple. Not sure if method validated for chilled also but don't see why not.
I noticed 3rd Party export surveyors liked to plunge there TC probes through the outer carton at time of shipment. Not exactly product-friendly.
I don't see an issue,we use calibrated daily infrared thermometers to check the temperatures of our incoming ingredients. We open the cardboard cases and take the ingredient temperatures for the first, middle and last pallet on the trailer. I agree with Scampi....ThermoWorks thermometers (infrared food safety thermometers)
I don't see an issue,we use calibrated daily infrared thermometers to check the temperatures of our incoming ingredients. We open the cardboard cases and take the ingredient temperatures for the first, middle and last pallet on the trailer. I agree with Scampi....ThermoWorks thermometers (infrared food safety thermometers)
Hi Mr.Wallace,
So what is yr specification for core/external(?) temperature of chilled products on arrival ?
Charles.C,
10F or less for frozen ingredients
34F-41F for refrigerated ingredients
Charles.C,
10F or less for frozen ingredients <= -12 degC
34F-41F for refrigerated ingredients <= 5 degC
Hi Mr Wallace,
Thks for input.
I assume these are externally measured temperatures. So presumably a conservative scenario would be if core temp = external temp.
IMO first spec is absolutely borderline acceptable. I doubt that a typical IR unit would be accurate enough to differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable on that limit.
Similar comment for the 5 degC limit although UK refrig.specs would suggest more tolerance.
Hi Mr Wallace,
Thks for input.
I assume these are externally measured temperatures. So presumably a conservative scenario would be if core temp = external temp.
IMO first spec is absolutely borderline acceptable. I doubt that a typical IR unit would be accurate enough to differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable on that limit.
Similar comment for the 5 degC limit although UK refrig.specs would suggest more tolerance.
So You mean that probably the IR gun is not accurate enough to work with?
But also most of IR thermometers has accuracy of +-2C and that is in my mind a little bit to much.
We are using Fluke 62 MAX Plus infrared thermometer and appreciate its' non-contact. It has +-1% accuracy that is rare for these types of thermometers. So that's why we chose this particular model :)
We've done some local testing and found a big variation in temperature readings compared to a calibrated probe - especially with frozen foods. The problem is that the emissivity of the carton, packaging or product causes wide variations in the reading.
Most food grade IR thermometers are set to an emissivity number of 0.9 to 0.95 as this is equivalent to the surface of fresh meat, most medical IR thermometers have a lower level as they are set up for human skin temperature, but the emissivity of food packaging can be very different.
We've issued guidance on use of IR thermometers that recommends you take the surface temp of an item that most closely matches meat - so a coloured non-reflective surface for example, or fresh chicken/fish/meat. Plastic film, white waxed cartons or (worst of all) foil caps, will give very different readings. We also recommend keeping the IR thermometer very close to the product (people imagine the red laser dot is a like a sniper rifle site that can work at long range), plus avoiding nearby lighting and trying to shade the product. By choosing the right surfaces an IR thermometer can within +/- 1C of a probe on a good day but if the wrong product is choses we've variations as high 7 or 8C for frozen foods and 3 or 4C for chilled.
HI,
We are using ETI Mini-ray IR thermometers in our receiving areas.
Our temperature limitation are
chilled - 0C - 5C
Frozen - <18C.
Store keepers are instructed to check the product temperature not the carton or vehicle temperatures.
External calibration once in year, then internal calibrations.
HI,
We are using ETI Mini-ray IR thermometers in our receiving areas.
Our temperature limitation are
chilled - 0C - 5C
Frozen - <18C.
Store keepers are instructed to check the product temperature not the carton or vehicle temperatures.
External calibration once in year, then internal calibrations.
Actually checking the contact areas between adjacent cartons by thermocouple is also a recognised non-destructive methodology in frozen food containers.
We IR our product as well, if the temperature reads the highest acceptable temperature range then we temp again with the probe.
Actually checking the contact areas between adjacent cartons by thermocouple is also a recognised non-destructive methodology in frozen food containers.
Thank you,
Is it easier to use. Never used before in the receiving points