Food quality and safety monitoring system

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.

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.

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.

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.