Broomfield, Colo. — Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tons — gets lost or wasted, according to a recent study commissioned by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The report also found that the level of waste is about the same in both developed and developing countries.
To help address this issue in the United States, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Food Marketing Institute recently announced a three-year initiative to assist in food waste reduction.
TempTRIP®, LLC believes it can contribute to reducing that waste via its cost-effective time/temperature system which monitors the perishable food journey from harvest to store.
In addition to recording time/temperature data points at desired intervals, the TempTRIP system also displays the food’s journey online. Cold chain participants can take a look at a map and be able to tell at a glance when and where it has been subjected to off-spec temperatures.
According to perishable food shelf life expert James Cox, Ph.D., “Anything that can be done to improve temperature conditions is going to have a profound impact on minimizing perishable losses. Most temperature monitoring systems today capture data for one cold chain segment. However, shelf life is really a cumulative thing. These subtle insults to perishable products during various segments add up and contribute to food waste. TempTRIP offers information integration which helps quantify degradation impact. That data is the key to subsequent action.”
“The TempTRIP approach enables the sharing of data transparently with all of the channel partners. This includes growers, food processors, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. Powerful information is displayed via the internet that can be used to fine tune everything from which coolers, trucks or transportation partners perform better to which products should be rotated out of the warehouse first,” said Phaedra Culjak, chief operations officer, TempTRIP.
The TempTRIP monitoring process incorporates three basic components—RFID smart cards, RFID reader with optional integrated barcode scanner, and the internet. The first step is helping users to set up an on-line profile which includes shipping, storage and receiving-point data plus temperature configurations, and which parties get to see the results.
An RFID smart card is placed on the pallet (or other designated location such as an individual case or in certain locations within a trailer load, depending on the level of detail desired).
To start the time and temperature monitoring process, the reader scans the pallet’s bar code and writes it to the smart card’s memory. Temperature is recorded continuously, at a company’s specified time interval.
When the TempTRIP-tagged pallets arrive at distribution center they are “read” to determine what temperature fluctuations have occurred. Results are sent, via USB or Wi-Fi transmission, to a dedicated page on the internet, with optional email and text alerts sent to the chain partners. (Similar to the Netflix® model, users also have the option of mailing the smart card back to TempTRIP and results are available online within 48 hours.)
The tags can be read and restarted at any time to record new segments with new starting and ending times. For example, as pallets are received, tags continue to record time and temperature in the truck, on the dock and in the warehouse. Tags can even receive new “ownership” and new time and temperature parameters as they move from grower/processor to distributor to retailer.
“Companies are surprised to find out how cost-effective the TempTRIP system is. It is extremely viable for a broad range of perishable foods—meat, dairy, juice, produce, ready-to eat meals, and other fresh or processed foods. Pharmaceutical and medical applications such as medications, plasma, devices, etc. can also benefit,” Culjak said.
About TempTrip
TempTRIP, LLC was established to improve the cold chain temperature monitoring process. The company’s “systems approach” goes beyond the basic hardware/software offering for temperature monitoring products by offering customers monitoring and comprehensive cold chain logistics with minimal infrastructure.
TempTRIP is a joint venture between Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE: SEE), a Fortune 500 company and Results Oriented, Inc., a software, hardware and Web development company with expertise in product tracking and radio frequency identification (RFID) dating back to 1989. For more info: www.temptrip.com.
Source: TempTrip
