Temperature Monitoring Device From Digitron Helps Pork Farms Take a Big Bite of the Food Market

TORQUAY, England, September 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

When you're producing 1.8 million baked goods each week product quality and food safety is crucial for brand confidence and sustained business growth.

A Nottingham-based company which specialises in pork pies and other popular savouries and snacks has further enhanced its temperature monitoring process with the latest innovation from Digitron Instrumentation Ltd.

Pork Farms is a large-scale producer and distributor of pork-based bakery products which are sold across the United Kingdom.

The company is celebrating its 80^th birthday this year and leads the way in pork pies sales with more than 25 million packs produced and shipped annually.

Food safety management for any producer is of the utmost importance and Pork Farms is making use of state-of-the-art temperature probes which have been developed specifically for a food production environment.

The '8146' temperature probe from Digitron recently completed successful field trials with catering and hospitality organisations who worked with the company to test the device.

The probe is now commercially available and is the first in the latest product range from the company which provides bespoke temperature monitoring solutions to businesses around the world.

Ellen Winters, assistant technical manager at Pork Farms has seen the benefits of the system which has helped her team to monitor conditions at the company's storage facilities in the East Midlands.

She said: "Temperature monitoring is critical for our business as it has to be exactly right at all stages of production to avoid any problems with the product.

"The system we used before was prone to faults as the thermometers regularly cracked and needed to be replaced. We have been trialing the new 8146 temperature probe and it has proved to be far more effective and hard-wearing.

"We check our temperature readings everyday and all of our storage units now use the system. The unit's removable protective covering, the boot, is particularly useful and can be easily cleaned when necessary."

Combining competitive pricing with a practical ergonomic design, the 8146 temperature probe comes complete with SteriTouch antimicrobial casing. It is lightweight and easy to use, making it ideal for use in kitchens, hospitals and food manufacturing plants.

The thermometer has ultrasonically welded seams and is waterproof to a IP67 protection rating with Lumberg connector, making it easy to clean with flush surfaces to minimise food traps.

Designed to be simple to use with functional on, off and hold buttons, the robust design is perfect for the harshest environments.

Peter Needham, business development manager at Digitron said the 8146 series was developed in direct response to feedback from industry to help organisations comply with stringent food safety standards.

He said: "Inadequate food temperature control is one of the most common causes of food borne illness and spoilage which can cost companies significant amounts of money.

"The Food Standards Agency advises the most effective way for businesses to ensure consumer protection is by implementing a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system of food safety management and the 8146 is an ideal tool for safe, fast and accurate monitoring."

Torquay-headquartered Digitron is part of Elektron Technology plc. The company continues to invest in developing new handheld and bespoke temperature monitoring devices.

Notes to editors

Digitron is a leading manufacturer and supplier of bespoke handheld and wireless instruments and solutions for the food, retail, healthcare and HVAC industries.

The company has been established for more than 40 years and is part of the Elektron Ventures division of AIM listed Elektron Technology plc.

Digitron offers high quality temperature, pressure, relative humidity and data logging instruments often used in commercial kitchens, food plants, major supermarkets and hospitals to help ensure safety and hygiene and improve efficiency.

With an experienced research and development team, Digitron creates bespoke wireless network monitoring solutions for national and multinational organisations.

For more information, please visit: http://www.digitron.co.uk