Seafood safety and quality can be compromised when exposed to temperatures that are either too high or too low. The Timestrip Seafood Temperature Indicator monitors the ascending temperatures of fresh seafood in reduced oxygen packaged seafood where C.botulinum toxins can develop undetected above 3.3°C / 38°F.
FDA C. Bot. HACCP plans for seafood imports
Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) forms toxins faster at temperatures above 3.3 degrees Celsius. The Timestrip Seafood Indicator is set at 38°F / 3.3°C and allows you to monitor if there is a possibility that these toxins have formed because of the temperature breach.
FDA guidance requires fish importers and processors to develop and implement a Hazard and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan for addressing supply chain dangers including temperature abuse. With the Timestrip Seafood Indicator, seafood handlers know just by looking at the indicator if a temperature breach has occurred.
Time &Temperature Indicators from Timestrip are the vital ingredient in packaging kits designed for new range of home-cooked food parcels, showing loved ones their food has arrived within USDA transit temperature guidelines.
An America start-up business that is set to revolutionize the old fashioned "food parcel" has chosen Timestrip indicators to provide the in-transit temperature monitoring element of their innovative new container kits, to alert recipients to temperature abuse and thus helping to prevent consumption of foods affected by adverse heat exposure.
From Home With Love, which only launched in December 2013, is already providing hundreds of home cooks across the US with the validated packaging necessary to send home cooked frozen meals to loved ones away at college, on work assignment or on military service.
Food kit temperature shipping indicator
They are including Timestrip Plus Food indicators in their shipping kits so that the recipients can be assured that their lovingly prepared meals never went above 40ºF - as recommended by the USDA - while in transit.
The Timestrip Plus will alert to a breach above 40ºF and tracks cumulative time in increments of 2 hours and 4 hours, thus adhering to the USDA recommendation that food should not be consumed if exposed to temperatures over 40ºF for 2 hours or greater.
The patented technology behind the Timestrip Plus Food Indicator is irreversible and failsafe – with no moving parts or electronics used in the production. These low cost "smart" Food Labels are activated simply by finger pressure and applied to frozen food containers as they are placed into the specially designed shipping cases supplied by From Home With Love.
James Delaney, FHWL Founder and CEO is delighted with the adoption of the Timestrip Plus technology, commented that:
"Time-Temperature Indicators specific to the food industry are long overdue and the opportunity for us to offer existing clients and prospective customers Timestrip's advanced temperature monitoring indicator will benefit our company’s overall efforts as we continue to enhance our line of Reusable Insulated Container Kits.
We're looking forward to working with Timestrip on their latest product offering with great enthusiasm."
Start up company Pristine Solutions has developed a solution for wineries and fine wine distributors who are committed to their consumers pouring a perfect glass of vino.
Since the quality of wine can be affected by temperature changes, Pristine created a tag with a temperature monitoring Timestrip indicator, that visually alerts the consumer that the wine is no longer at peak quality due to a temperature disturbance.
The tags can be affixed to the bottles of wine and have a unique QR code to connect consumers with an app that can track their wine purchases.
Read more about this unique startup in their Forbes profile.
Samuel & Sons Seafood is a company that knows a thing or two about delivering fresh seafood – in fact it has built its reputation on delivering freshness and quality. With a 100 year history it’s clear that this commitment has been successfully passed down through five generations of the D’Angelo family.
The company has grown and prospered from its humble Philadelphia roots to become a major player in the supply of fresh seafood to retailers and restaurants, shipping products to customers across America using air freight and refrigerated vehicles.
Samuels & Son Seafood knows that customer satisfaction leads to customer loyalty, so as their cold chain distribution operations have grown geographically, so has their need to vigilantly monitor product temperatures to protect seafood flavor, texture, appearance and, most importantly, the health of their customers.
Because logistics packaging containers and refrigeration systems are not always reliable, temperatures will vary depending on environmental conditions experienced throughout the cold chain. A lack of understanding in regard to temperature abuse can easily go unnoticed and situations can occur that foster bacterial growth and premature spoilage.
“In the past, when product left our hands it was difficult to tell if unacceptable temperatures had compromised the quality and safety of our product during transit,” said Joe Lasprogata, Vice President of New Product Development and Food Safety for Samuels & Son Seafood.
Seafood shipment TTI from Timestrip
Joe adds: “In accordance with the Fish and Fishery Product Hazards and Controls Guidance, where a reduced oxygen packaged product uses refrigeration as the sole barrier to outgrowth, the application of a Time Temperature Indicator (TTI) on to each consumer package is critical to identifying a temperature breach. If a TTI is used; it should be validated to ensure that it is fit for its intended purpose and verified that it is functional at the time of use.”
After careful assessment of products on the market and with guidance from the experts at temperature monitoring company TipTEMParature Products, Samuel & Sons Seafood have implemented the use of Timestrip® temperature labels so they now have a fully compliant process for monitoring product as it moves through the cold chain.
The small, single use Timestrip® temperature indicators are adhered directly to the cryovac packaging. Significantly, and unlike other temperature monitoring products on the market, Timestrip® is the only solution where the activation is visually evident at the point of application. The indication window showing the “ON” status verifies that the product is functional at the time of use… whereas other products cannot prove their functionality unless a breach occurs.
As Joe correctly states, “The Fish and Fishery Product Hazards and Controls Guidance book says that when using a temperature indicator it needs to be validated and should have verification that it is functional at the time of use. The Timestrip® temperature label was the only available indicator that provided an actual indication of functionality when activated.
Not only that, they give an accurate and irreversible cumulative read-out of how long the temperature breach occurred. So Timestrip® indicators work on two levels: they tell us when product quality has been compromised and must be removed from the supply chain, but we avoid unnecessary wastage by working within accurately monitored safe limits.
Timestrip® temperature indicators display irreversible evidence of the cumulative time our produce has been exposed to a temperature deviation that extends beyond acceptable limits – and we simply couldn’t find a more cost-effective way of monitoring this,” concluded Joe.
“Selling seafood that has had temperature abuse often results in devastating effects,” said Dan Hafen, Director of Sales and Marketing at Timestrip North America. “Samuels & Son Seafood has gone above and beyond to make sure that their product is temperature controlled, regulated and monitored right across their logistics operations.
Timestrip® Temperature Indicators are helping Samuel & Sons show customers their commitment to delivering freshness and quality has not changed – even after 100 years of supplying the best seafood in the business.”
Together with Samuel and Sons, Timestrip® will be at Booth 1551 during the Boston Seafood Show this weekend (March 11th - 13th 2012).
We look forward to meeting you!
Over 225 public and private schools in California using the pioneering services of the catering company Choicelunch have even more confidence in the quality of the individual meals delivered and served thanks to the introduction of Timestrip Plus™ to their transit cool boxes.
Choicelunch is a company committed to providing school children with nutritionally balanced healthy lunches, hand cooked and prepared to order each day. The family run business has grown from a ‘mom and pop’ support service in a small kitchen to become one of the fastest growing businesses in California employing over 100 people, producing thousands of meals a year.
Using the choicelunch.com website or iPhone app ordering systems each child chooses their lunch from daily menus. The meals are delivered by GPS tracked vans - all the children have to do is give their name at the food service counter and then select their fresh fruits and drinks to go with their main meal.
The emphasis is on the provision of real food, healthy eating and the sourcing of ingredients that cater for all dietary needs – covering gluten-free, antibiotic-free and hormone-free; with a focus on organic, locally sourced fruit and vegetables. This is a truly green business, with meal bags and disposable cutlery fully compostable.
They educate too, running cookery classes for kids and an active social network using Facebook for parents.
Choicelunch is a business big on the small details. They could see the need for the distribution and service teams to have total confidence in temperature control, from kitchen release through to pick-up by the kids. In keeping with their mantra to be the best at what they do they created a production protocol based on the extensive use of Timestrip Plus™ indicators.
Timestrip temperature labels in cool boxes
Using Timestrip Plus™ smart indicators applied to the inside of each cool box they have a simple, highly accurate and clearly visible readout showing how long the contents have been above the critical 40/41°F (5°C) chilled threshold.
Timestrip Plus™ indicators monitor the cumulative time outside of a specific temperature threshold and can be manufactured to meet a range of compliance temperatures used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
ChoiceLunch (and the State Health Inspectors) love the tamper-proof integrity of the Timestrip Plus™ indicators and use the unambiguous Timestrip® display to prevent the consumption of food stuffs exposed to temperatures above 40/41°F (5°C) for more than 2 hours.
With a guarantee that lunches are delivered and served at the right temperature, parents with children at a vulnerable age get the peace of mind they deserve, from a company they know is 100% committed to providing safe, healthy food for hungry school kids.
You could say Timestrip® gives Choicelunch a big tick in the (cool) box for food quality monitoring!
Leading fruit and vegetable wholesaler Oliver Kay Produce has adopted Timestrip’s FridgeSafe technology to help customers comply with temperature guidelines for fresh
produce.
The company, which delivers daily across the UK, had identified a need to help customers ensure that, once delivered, their super-fresh produce stayed in top condition. FridgeSafe gives accurate information about the temperature at which goods have been stored, clearly indicating if produce has been kept above a recommended temperature.
Timestrip fridgesafe temperature indicator
FridgeSafe™ will show, not only that one or more temperature breaches has occurred, but also the cumulative amount of time during which the product remained at the higher temperature. This additional data provides a more complete picture of whether the product’s quality may have been affected.
Oliver Kay’s team had been receiving regular complaints about shelf-life and quality from the same customers and believed this was due to produce being stored above recommended temperatures at the customers’ locations. The company began placing
FridgeSafe on its crates, to indicate where the temperature breaches were occurring and successfully showed customers that they were not storing produce correctly.
FridgeSafe ensures that customers are quickly aware of a temperature breach and can act to remedy the situation. It is easily applied and its traffic light indicator system makes it clear and simple to understand, without training or knowledge of temperature issues.
“Adopting FridgeSafe has given us a win-win situation,” says Chris O’Connor, MD at Oliver Kay. “It has stopped complaints for problems over which we had no control and has enabled customers to improve shelf-life and quality of produce at their own locations. FridgeSafe is easy to use and very cost-effective and beats expensive data-
loggers hands-down.”
Oliver Kay Produce provides a seamless link between growers, producers and catering professionals. Over the last 20 years it has built a reputation for superb quality, reliable delivery and an outstanding range of produce, serving customers both locally in the North West and nationally, through a series of distribution hubs.
Timestrip works with market-leading companies in many industries worldwide and has an ongoing programme of research and development. The company’s patent-protected labelling technology is constantly evolving and many of its projects involve integrating labels into products at the point of manufacture.
Smart label innovator Timestrip is celebrating being nominated as Best New Product at the prestigious SOFHT Awards. The annual Society of Food Hygiene and Technology awards luncheon, now in its 28th year, is the event for the food technology market, attracting delegates from every sector of the food industry.
The 2007 awards will be presented at a formal luncheon at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington on November 15th; present will be more than 300 members and guests from leading players in the food and related industries, both in the UK and internationally.
Timestrip has been nominated in the Best New Product category, sponsored by Sainsbury’s, which covers a broad range of products in food, service and equipment. Timestrip’s ground-breaking label solutions have been recognised as being ‘identifiably different to any existing product’ and ‘providing a new experience’ for customers.
“We’re thrilled to have been nominated for this award,” says Reuben Isbitsky, Joint CEO of Timestrip. “With proven performance already in the food retail and food service markets, this is a further endorsement of the Timestrip® technology.”
The Society of Food Hygiene & Technology is an independent body whose role is to offer support through membership to anyone involved in food hygiene and technology issues. SOFHT is led by a high-profile voluntary board of directors, committed to promoting food hygiene and technology throughout the food chain.
Timestrip’s unique smart labels automatically monitor elapsed time and can work under a wide variety of conditions, from ambient environments to fridge, freezer and extremely high temperatures. Using only food-grade components, the labels have applications in a hugely diverse range of industries, including food retail and food service; cosmetics; medical and pharmaceutical. The technology can be integrated into products or packaging, as well as the more traditional applied label format. Timestrip plc floated on the UK Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 2005.