No more substandard goods!
If you run a restaurant, hotel, café or catering company, you know very well that product quality is not just a matter of taste — it is the foundation of your entire business. In the HoReCa industry, every detail matters, and one of the most important ones is… temperature. A few degrees difference in the cold store can cause fresh vegetables to lose their crunch, meat to start spoiling, and ready-made dishes to become unsafe to eat.
It all boils down to one thing — precise and constant control of storage conditions.
Sanitary authorities, HACCP and your refrigerator — what do you need to remember?
Polish catering establishments are subject to clear and strict food safety rules. The HACCP system, or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, has been the standard expected by both auditors and the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station for years. In most catering establishments, temperature is one of the most important control points. No wonder – it determines how quickly bacteria grow and how long food remains fresh and safe.
Exceeding the recommended values, for example +4°C for meat products, can quickly lead to the spoilage of an entire batch. This is not theory — it is the everyday reality of many establishments that struggle with equipment failures, leaky doors or simply a lack of timely response.
During inspections, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station pays particular attention to temperature documentation. It expects regular, reliable records showing that the business owner is actually monitoring the refrigeration equipment. Manual recording is acceptable, but it can be cumbersome and prone to errors. And in an industry where even a single missing entry can result in a warning or a fine, the risk is really not worth it.
What do the regulations and practice say?
The most important ‘cold’ rules to follow
Although the details vary depending on the product, there are universal standards for food storage. Frozen foods should be kept at -18°C or below, chilled products between 0°C and +4°C, and dry storage is usually between 15-25°C, with humidity control to protect against mould and pests.
This is the absolute minimum. Many manufacturers include their own recommendations on the packaging, and it is worth following them, as they know the specifics of their products best.
Losing money is the least of your problems...
Improper storage conditions do not end with just a fine. In practice, they mean real losses. When a freezer breaks down at night and no one notices the temperature rise, the entire contents may end up in the bin. Often, the amounts are in the hundreds or even thousands of pounds — and that’s from a single failure.
Even if the product does not spoil completely, temperature fluctuations impair its quality. Fruit loses its firmness, vegetables wilt faster, and meat can change its texture. This is a sure-fire way to dissatisfied guests, who can immediately sense that something is ‘not as usual’.
Added to this is a factor that is rarely mentioned: staff time. Manually recording temperatures in a dozen or so appliances several times a day can take a lot of time — time that could be spent serving guests or preparing food.
CoolSens – a system that works for you
The solution to these problems is automation. Modern systems such as CoolSens turn the mandatory monitoring process into something that works in the background – quietly, accurately and continuously.
The system is based on small, wireless CoolSens Node sensors that measure the temperature and humidity in every refrigeration unit and cold store. The data is automatically sent to the cloud via the CoolSens CloudHub, and the business owner has access to it at any time.
What’s more, the system analyses the results on an ongoing basis and immediately sends a PUSH notification, SMS or email if the temperature starts to exceed the set standards. This gives you the opportunity to react quickly — before any losses occur. The entire measurement history is archived and available at your fingertips, which means you are fully prepared for a health and safety inspection or audit.
Importantly, monitoring does not end in the kitchen. The same sensors can be used to monitor the temperature in delivery vehicles, allowing you to maintain control over the entire cold chain — from receipt of goods to serving of food.
Environmental monitoring — technology that protects products and reduces losses
Automatic temperature monitoring is not just a technology — it is a real advantage in an industry where quality, safety and customer trust are paramount. With systems such as CoolSens, you can be sure that every product is stored in accordance with requirements, and your losses and risks are reduced to virtually zero.
You take care of running your business. CoolSens takes care of the rest.
