Refrigerated & Frozen Foods Retailer

Looking to reduce shrink and cut your refrigeration costs? Draper, Utah-based RefrigeratorSaver says it has just the product for you — a new generation of thermometers that has already proven itself in Europe and is now available in the United States.

The EndoTherm thermometer looks like a garden-variety thermometer, but it reports the temperatures of products — rather than the air around them. Spencer Freedman, managing partner of RefrigeratorSaver, says interest from retailers on this side of the Atlantic has been strong. In addition to its offices in Utah and London, England, the company will be opening offices in New York and Toronto in early March.

Travis Waller, director of food safety for Associated Food Stores, Salt Lake City, says the thermometers have been tested in the refrigerated departments of one of the company’s independent retailers, who was favorably impressed with them. He’s considering rolling them into some corporate stores for further tests.

“They help in cases that run marginal temperatures, such as in the deli, where doors are also always being opened and closed,” says Waller. “They give you added security, knowing the product temperature is 41 degrees or less in the deli cases when the air temperature could fluctuate.” 

Traditional thermometers, Freedman points out, can be unreliable given the vagaries of air currents and the constant opening and closing of doors. Even laser probes of packaging surfaces can be inaccurate because of reflections off clear-wrap plastic.

The EndoTherm is a standard glass and alcohol thermometer — immersed in a patented silicone gel food substitute. When placed alongside refrigerated or frozen foods, it reads the temperature of the food, not the air. 

Freedman says the new thermometers can help retailers determine if refrigeration equipment is working properly, and doesn’t have a blocked condenser or insufficiently sized fans, for example. The devices help retailers keep cases accurately set to the proper temperature, thus keeping foods at the ideal temperature and preventing over- or under-refrigeration. Variations of only a degree or two can hasten food spoilage and endanger food safety, or cause energy-intensive equipment to run more than necessary, he notes. Freedman estimates it would cost between $1,500 and $2,000 to have the Endotherm thermometers throughout all the refrigerated and frozen food areas in the average-sized store.

According to the company’s website (www.refrigeratorsaver.com), Prof. Timothy Jones of the University of Arizona has noted that in 2005 (the most recent year where data is available), America’s supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants threw away 27 million tons of food — most of it due to improper refrigeration.

The Endotherm thermometer require no assembly or installation, and only needs to be placed inside the cooler or display case. One of its inventors, Guy Lamstaes, was listed in 2008 in the (London) Guardian as among the “50 People Who Could Help Save the Planet.”