A datalogger is a small device that measures temperature at set intervals and writes it to memory; its worth in a business is that the record helps decide things in three places. When a customer says the product arrived warm, the values at loading, along the road and at delivery are on the curve, and the argument turns into finding where the problem arose.
The second use is route tuning. Lay several records of the same route side by side and you see which stop causes the jump, whether the number of plates was enough and how long the lid stayed open; loading order, plate count and pre-cooling are then set from that curve rather than by guesswork.
The third is the report to the buyer. For quick-frozen food a record is mandatory: Communiqué 2014/48 requires measuring devices to comply with TS EN 12830, 13485 and 13486 and records to be kept for at least one year.
The record pays off when somebody opens the file, so write down who reads the report and how often before you buy the device. The logging interval should be short enough to catch lid openings, and the sensor should sit where it measures what the product experiences.
