By Diane Silcock
ACCORDING to the South African Department of Health, between 1 January 2024 and 4 June 2024, 70 foodborne disease (FBD) outbreaks occurred across eight provinces with KwaZulu-Natal having the highest number. For the same period last year, 48 FBD’s were reported across the eight provinces. That’s a startling 45,8% increase. Globally, every year, an estimated 600 million people worldwide suffer from foodborne illnesses, according to the World Health Organisation.
A company that understands the gravity of these statistics, is Testo, a world leader in measurement technology and inventor of the first electronic thermometer. They are committed to providing innovative measuring solutions to mitigate the risks associated with foodborne illnesses.
Testo South Africa MD, Christian Tomanek, says: “It is important to maintain the cold chain, because when it comes to food safety, temperature is one of the most critical parameters.” He gives a simple example of milk being left out of the fridge on a hot day. “For every hour it’s left out, a day’s shelf life is lost because bacteria grow much faster between 25 and 65 degrees Celsius.”
Testo’s high-precision hand-held measuring instruments enable their customers, along the entire cold chain, from farm to fork, to conduct quick temperature checks, thereby avoiding temperature fluctuations that are often the cause of spoiling or impaired food quality.
These portable thermometers that can either be inserted directly into food via penetrating temperature probes or they can read the surface temperature via infrared. Testo also offers a cooking oil tester that when inserted into hot oil can determine the optimal point at which oil needs to be changed, offering 20% to 30% savings on oil, as it is often changed too early.
With most products passing through many different hands on their way to the end consumer – in transport, temporary storage facilities and distribution centres – there are multiple points where food quality and safety can be compromised.
In the food industry, raw materials are often delivered late at night and stored overnight for distribution the following morning. Should a significant change in temperature occur, food could be spoiled, or shelf life diminished, within a matter of hours, should a customer not be alerted. Testo’s WiFi data loggers are stationary sensors that work proactively, detecting when limit values are violated, by sending an alarm alert to the customer via SMS or email, enabling them to take action and avoid a potential catastrophic revenue loss.
Tomanek stresses the importance of verifying equipment to ensure accurate readings as it would be unwise for companies to make decisions based on false readings. Testo therefore has SANAS-accredited calibration laboratories in both Johannesburg and Cape Town primarily for the food and pharmaceutical industries, where customers calibrate their equipment yearly.
Moreover, Testo has a digital quality management system which is ideal for restaurant chains, as well as retail stores. Head office managers can determine at any time, via a dashboard, if quality checks are being fulfilled at their multiple restaurants/stores.
Compliance can be checked and the need for corrective action easily identified. This helps to ensure foods are prepared more safely, and staff are guided step by step through the quality checks.
“While accurate measuring should be a given, the companies likely to be most successful, will be the ones that present the relevant data in the best possible way to the customer,” concludes Tomanek.
