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Use One Data Logger for Extensive Environmental Monitoring

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A magnifying glass surrounded by scanning effects.Looking to keep an eye on multiple metrics? Here’s a data logger that gets results.

Key Takeaways:

  • Many factors can damage produce and endanger human health during food transportation and storage
  • Temperature, CO2, vibration, and humidity are four key metrics in food safety
  • Monitoring multiple data devices can be costly and time-consuming
  • The EDL-4S combines four measurements into an intuitive and comprehensive unit

Temperature monitoring – how it impacts customer satisfaction and the integrity of products – is at the heart of success for several industries. Pharmaceuticals and food manufacturing are two of the most temperature dependent, with their many connected entities like healthcare facilities, grocery stores, and restaurants equally dependent by association.

Temperature data loggers are important devices, but there are other critical environmental metrics that food and agriculture companies must measure in addition to temperature, such as humidity, CO2 levels, and vibration.

Each can be critical in preserving produce before and during transportation and in storage. Often, more than one of these factors must be closely monitored simultaneously. Read our guide to discover an easy way to keep track of all of these variables.

Data demystifies cold chain confusion

It’s easy for companies to find out too late when something has gone wrong with their shipment or at their storage facility. Where did the problem occur, and when? It could have been at any point on a journey of perhaps hundreds of miles through the cold chain or at any time in a warehouse holding the products.

This lack of information stops effective action to rectify the issue and, worse, prevent it in the future. Either could mean lost produce, profits, and business opportunities for food and agriculture organizations.

This is what makes digital data loggers (DDLs) such essential tools. Companies who use one or more of them can pinpoint when a product-critical excursion happened, and that data can also help isolate where. Let’s recap how four critical factors can make or break food health:

  • Humidity
    Fungal growth (mold, in particular) is one harmful result of humidity that threatens food safety. Food in shipment or storage provides all the nutrients mold needs to spread rapidly, leaving stakeholders with two choices: throw product away or put it to market, where it could endanger consumer health.
  • Temperature
    Your company may grow a crop, or store one, or ship one, or all of the above. Temperature is critical in all instances. If it’s too high or too low, growth can be impeded or even prevented, making a temperature data logger essential equipment.

    Higher temperatures allow for faster and wider growth of destructive microorganisms. The USDA reminds us that there’s a broad window of opportunity (between 40° and 140° F) in which bacteria can double their growth rate in just 20 minutes.

  • Vibration
    A single short, sharp shock or a sustained shaking; it doesn’t matter when it comes to food transportation and food safety. Either one could partially or entirely ruin a shipment. Vibration stress can speed up product degradation significantly, with critical frequencies in the 0 to 10 Hz range.
  • CO2
    Pre-harvest CO2 levels are typically kept higher than are standard in the air to encourage photosynthesis and growth. Post-harvest CO2 levels in the shipment/storage chain are equally important.

    Food exposed to excessive carbon dioxide can lose essential nutrients and proteins, significantly reducing its nutritional value. Close monitoring of CO2 levels in the parts per million (PPM) is therefore vital.

A data logger with a wide PPM range can do this and alert users to any concerning changes. Another with a broad Hz range would also be very useful. A sensitive temperature data logger should also be purchased. Then, you could search for a humidity sensor and have to keep track of (not to mention pay for) four separate sensors. Or you could do it all with one!

4 essential metrics, one amazing data logger

The EDL-4S from Marathon Products is our low-cost solution for food safety and reliable data gathering, whether for food transportation or static storehouses. Several modular sensors can be attached to this compact and lightweight (less than two ounces) unit that is NIST and CE certified so your shipments or storage areas can be confidently measured for:

  • Temperature
    The EDL-4S is a resistance temperature detector that can record data ranging from –200° C to 380° C with an accuracy of ±1.0° C for extremes and ±0.3° C for room temperature.
  • CO2
    The infrared sensor offers 0 to 30,000 parts per million, so you can more efficiently control product growth and quickly register any adverse environmental conditions.
  • Relative Humidity
    With capacitive humidity readings of 0 to 100%, the EDL-4S delivers accuracy of ±3% from 25% to 75% and ±5% at extremes. 
  • Vibration
    The EDL-4S is a 3-D Accelerometer with a vibration range of up to 16G, a sampling rate from 1 to 400 Hz, and accuracy of ±0.05G.

The EDL-4S includes user-configurable alarms for excursions in relative humidity and temperature. Alarms are visible via the real-time LCD along with all other statistical and graphical data. The requisite MaxiThermal-X software lets users download the EDL-4S’s comprehensive and easy-to-read data directly to their computer.

This time-stamped information can be reviewed and shared via printout or exported in CSV file format for integration with other software. Users can also add their own notes to the data to provide further insight for stakeholders.

With measurement intervals programmable from two seconds per reading, you’ll know if and precisely when a mission-critical excursion has occurred and be able to act quickly. Try the EDL-4S and see why industry giants like Apple, Intel, and Shinkawa Electric Company trust Marathon Products for data they can count on!

Diverse data loggers for businesses of any size

Marathon Products are the culmination of 30 years of industry experience resulting in precision microelectronics that are thoroughly tested and calibrated to the highest standards. Our products supply reliable, actionable data so you can operate with clarity rather than confusion.

Our DDLs let you closely monitor multiple conditions and create stronger pre-and post-harvest practices that can help you preserve produce and perform more strongly. We supply solutions to fit every budget, so just contact us at web-inquiry@marathonproducts.com or call 510-562-6450 for more information!

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