Wireless system monitors food safety via the Internet

The system is being launched to meet the expected increased demand from food companies for methods that will help them comply with the EU's new hygiene laws, due to come into effect on 1 January.

The hygiene regulations require companies to follow international food safety standards known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). The standard requires that the companies keep records of their supplies and processes throughout the food supply chain.

HACCP is a systematic method used in the industry to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions, known as Critical Control Points (CCP's), can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realised throughout production and distribution processes.

Comtech Holdings and Invisible Systems say they will cooperate in offering a system that monitors food safety to retailers, factories and transport companies. The system will allow companies to collect and store information, such as temperature variances, needed to comply with the EU's recordkeeping laws relating to food safety.

The system includes an automated temperature monitoring method for HACCP compliance. It will also record corrective actions, where information is delivered to end users on a service basis.

Comtech will provide the communication infrastructure and hardware for the system through the company's µWeave. µWeave provides a gateway for remote sites, web-based back-office management software and specialised services. µWeave eliminates the need for an on-site computer at each remote site.

Invisible Systems will provide that part of the system necessary to collect data and deliver service-based information from a single location via the Internet. Invisible Systems said it will be able to tailor the system to meet individual business needs.

"We looked at creating our own solution for monitoring remotes sites via the Internet, but soon discovered the complexity of an end-to-end solution that would have taken us 18-months to develop,"​ stated Pete Thompson, Invisible Systems' managing director. "We realised that this would have been a distraction to our business and delayed getting our product to market. Within 3 weeks of working with Comtech, we had a demonstration system completed."​

Invisible systems have been enable to achieve fast time to market in offering managed services based around their core business without needing to bother with the underlying technology, Comtech stated. Comtech

"We focus on the creating the communication solution for many markets so that our partners can focus on their applications,"​ stated Steve Whitehead, Comtech's technical director. "Invisible Systems not only offer expertise within the food industry, but also local wireless solutions to sensor level for this market. This is a true win-win partnership where we can each extend the reach our solutions without re-inventing the wheel"​

Comtech builds software that allows companies to remotely monitor and control their equipment via the Internet. The company provides GSM, GPRS, PSTN modems, routers and gateways, Web-based central management applications and specialised factory automation services.

Invisible Systems turnkey products primarily for the food industry, where there is a need to monitor assets during transportation, within the factory or at retail locations. The company's systems monitor and control such variables as temperatures, humidity, fluid levels and flows and pressures.

In July 2000, the European Commission published a package of five measures to update and consolidate the seventeen existing hygiene directives. The package was intended to introduce consistency and clarity throughout the food production chain from "farm to fork". After nearly four years of negotiations, the texts were adopted on 29 April 2004.

Under the law food business operators will be required to adopt specific hygiene measures, including compliance with microbiological criteria for foodstuffs and procedures necessary to meet the targets set by the regulations. They will also have to comply with temperature control requirements, maintenance of the cold chain and with sampling and analysis procedures.