Food quality and safety monitoring system

• US 20020161545A1
• Filed: 02/21/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emerson Climate Technologies Retail Solutions Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Emerson Retail Services, Inc. (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Singh, Abtar, Mathews, Thomas J., Wickberg, Paul, Starling, Neal
• Granted Patent: US 6,609,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/130
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/12 combined with sampling devices for measuring temperatures of samples of materials

Abstract

The present invention provides a food quality and safety monitoring system and method for evaluating food characteristic management for improving the safety of perishable food products for human consumption and the shelf life of perishable food product. In a first embodiment, a temperature sample is taken for each product group within a refrigeration case that is used to calculate either a food safety index or a food quality index. Alternatively, the food product temperature for each food product group within a refrigeration case may be continuously monitored to calculate a food characteristic index. The food characteristic index can be monitored over time to evaluate the food characteristic management of a particular store or group of stores.

Claims

1. A method for determining a food product index for a plurality of product types contained within a plurality of refrigeration cases, said method comprising the steps of:

measuring a first parameter of each of the plurality of product types within the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a second parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter;

determining a third parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a first parameter threshold value for each of the plurality of product types;

calculating a first factor for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said second parameter, said third parameter and said first parameter threshold value;

calculating an average value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a maximum value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating the food product index as a function of said maximum value and said average value of said first factors.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first parameter is temperature.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said second parameter is calculated as the maximum value of said first parameter for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said third parameter is a multiplier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said multiplier is a maximum among a group of multipliers, each member of said group associated with one of said plurality of product types.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said sub-multipliers are pre-defined and experimentally confirmed for each of the plurality of product types.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first parameter threshold value is common to each of the plurality of product types.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said first parameter threshold value is a temperature threshold value equal to 41°

F.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said first factor is a safety factor and calculating said safety factor for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases includes the steps of:

comparing said second parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases to said first parameter threshold value;

wherein said safety factor is a difference between said second parameter and said first parameter threshold value multiplied by said third parameter, for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases if said comparison yields a first result; and

wherein said safety factor is equal to zero if said comparison yields a second result.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said first result exists if said second parameter is greater than said first parameter threshold value.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said second result exists if said second parameter is one of either less than or equal to said first parameter threshold value.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein calculation of the food product index includes the steps of:

calculating an unscaled food product index;

calculating a maximum food product index; and

calculating said food product index as a function of said unscaled food product index and said maximum food product index.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said unscaled food product index is determined from a root-mean-square calculation of said maximum value of said first factors and said average value of said first factors.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said second parameter is calculated as the average value of said first parameter for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said first parameter threshold value is an ideal temperature for storing a particular product type.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said first factor is a quality factor and calculating said quality factor for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases includes the steps of:

comparing said second parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases to an average first parameter threshold value;

wherein said quality factor is a difference between said second parameter and said average first parameter threshold value multiplied by said third parameter, for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases if said comparison yields a first result; and

wherein said quality factor is equal to zero if said comparison yields a second result.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said third parameter is an average multiplier and calculation of said third parameter includes the steps of:

determining a multiplier for each of the product types in each of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a product mix percentage for each of the product types in each of the plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating an average multiplier for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said multiplier and said product mix percentage for each of the product types.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein calculating said average first parameter threshold value includes the steps of:

determining a product mix percentage for each of the product types in each of the plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating said average first parameter threshold value for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter threshold values and said product mix percentage for each of the product types.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said first result exists if said second parameter is greater than said first parameter threshold value.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said second result exists if said second parameter is one of either less than or equal to said first parameter threshold value.

21. An audit method for determining a food product index for a plurality of product types contained within a plurality of refrigeration cases, said audit method comprising the steps of:

measuring a first parameter of a sample of each of the plurality of product types within the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a second parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter;

determining a third parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a first parameter threshold value for each of the plurality of product types;

calculating a first factor for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said second parameter, said third parameter and said first parameter threshold value;

calculating an average value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a maximum value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating the food product index as a function of said maximum value and said average value of said first factors.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said first parameter is temperature.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said first parameter is measured using a temperature sensor.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said first parameter is temperature.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of monitoring said first parameter includes continuously monitoring said first parameter.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said step of monitoring said first parameter includes a product simulator to monitor said first parameter.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising a step of communicating said first parameter from said food product simulator to a controller of the refrigeration system.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein calculation of said food product index includes the steps of:

monitoring a first parameter of said at least one product temperature sensor within the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a second parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter;

determining a third parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a first parameter threshold value for each of the plurality of product types;

calculating a first factor for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said second parameter, said third parameter and said first parameter threshold value;

calculating an average value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a maximum value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating the food product index as a function of said maximum value and said average value of said first factors.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein said first parameter is temperature.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein said at least one product temperature sensor is a simulated product temperature sensor.

24. A monitoring method for determining a food product index for a plurality of product types contained within a plurality of refrigeration cases, said monitoring method comprising the steps of:

monitoring a first parameter of a plurality of food product simulators within the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a second parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter;

determining a third parameter for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a first parameter threshold value for each of the plurality of product types;

calculating a first factor for each of the plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said second parameter, said third parameter and said first parameter threshold value;

calculating an average value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a maximum value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating the food product index as a function of said maximum value and said average value of said first factors.

29. A system for refrigerating a plurality of food products and determining a food product index, the system comprising:

at least one refrigeration case;

at least one product temperature sensor disposed within said at least one refrigeration case and operable to measure a product temperature from said at least one refrigeration case; and

a controller in communication with said at least one product temperature sensor and operable to continuously receive temperature data for calculating a food characteristic index.

33. A method for evaluating food characteristic management performance of a food manager, comprising the steps of:

collecting first product data from a first food manager;

determining a first food characteristic index as a function of said first product data for said first food manager;

collecting second product data from a second food manager;

determining a second food characteristic index as a function of said second product data for said second food manager; and

comparing said first food characteristic index and said second food characteristic index.

34. The method of claim 33, advising one of said first and second food managers to improve food characteristic management as a function of said comparing said first food characteristic index and said second food characteristic index.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of:

adjusting performance of one of said first and second food managers as a function of said comparing of said first and second food characteristic indices.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein said steps of collecting first and second food product data includes collecting product data representing a plurality of product types.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein calculating said first food characteristic index comprises the steps of:

measuring a first parameter of each of a plurality of product types within a plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a second parameter for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter;

determining a third parameter for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a first parameter threshold value for each of said plurality of product types;

calculating a first factor for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said second parameter, said third parameter and said first parameter threshold value;

calculating an average value of said first factors of the plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a maximum value of said first factors of said plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating said first food characteristic index as a function of said maximum value and said average value of said first factors.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein calculating said second food characteristic index comprises the steps of:

measuring a first parameter of each of a plurality of product types within a plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a second parameter for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said first parameter;

determining a third parameter for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a first parameter threshold value for each of said plurality of product types;

calculating a first factor for each of said plurality of refrigeration cases as a function of said second parameter, said third parameter and said first parameter threshold value;

calculating an average value of said first factors of said plurality of refrigeration cases;

determining a maximum value of said first factors of said plurality of refrigeration cases; and

calculating said second food characteristic index as a function of said maximum value and said average value of said first factors.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein said first and second food characteristic indices are food quality indices.

40. The method of claim 33, wherein said first and second food characteristic indices are food safety indices.

41. The method of claim 33, wherein said first food manager comprises a chain of food product retailers.

42. The method of claim 33, wherein said first food manager comprises a food product retailer within a chain of food product retailers.

43. The method of claim 33, wherein said first food manager comprises a food product department within a food product retailer.

44. The method of claim 33, wherein said first food manager comprises a food product storage case within a department of a food product retailer.

45. The method of claim 33, wherein said second food manager comprises a chain of food product retailers.

46. The method of claim 33, wherein said second food manager comprises a food product retailer within a chain of food product retailers.

47. The method of claim 33, wherein said second food manager comprises a food product department within a food product retailer.

48. The method of claim 33, wherein said second food manager comprises a food product storage case within a department of a food product retailer.

49. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of:

determining a food characteristic index for a food product industry, as a function of said first and second food characteristic indices.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising the step of:

comparing either of said first and second food characteristic indices of said first and second food managers with said food characteristic index for said food product industry.