Reading Thermal’s innovative SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger will help you maintain compliance with kill-step validation requirements for your baked goods.
Headquartered in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, Reading Thermal has focused on the commercial baking process for more than 25 years. We manufacture and support the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System, which enables you to monitor actual in-process conditions and get the critical information you need to correct problems and maintain optimum process control.
This powerful diagnostic tool is used in a wide range of baking, drying, cooling and freezing applications by personnel in R&D, Quality Control, Food Science, Corporate Engineering, Food Safety, and Maintenance. It provides a user-friendly platform for data collection, analysis and problem solving.
Kill-Step Validation
The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires commercial bakeries to provide scientific validation of process controls (thermal kill steps) in order to reduce foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella spp., in both ingredients and finished products. Identifying and controlling internal food temperature is essential.
Fermentation, moisture evaporation, product swelling, flavor development, and surface coloring are all time- and temperature-dependent. Consequently, product level temperature can make the difference between optimal quality and throughput – and wasteful, under-baked or burnt product.
The SCORPION® 2 Temperature Sensor Array measures temperature at product level in fixed positions across the conveyor and delivers an accurate representation of what your product is experiencing over time.
The design has pluggable thermocouple pairs that are equally spaced across the length of a bar that is the same width as the oven band. The number of sensor pairs will vary with the length of the bar/conveyor width.
There are two types of pluggable temperature sensors:
- Type A: This is an Air/Conveyor sensor designed to measure air temperature immediately above the conveyor, and the surface temperature of the conveyor itself. It is designed for solid or tight mesh conveyors. One thermocouple in each pair measures air temperature; the other is spring-loaded down onto the conveyor surface.
- Type B: This is an Air/Air sensor that measures upper air temperature immediately above the conveyor, and the temperature of the lower air that is rising through the conveyor. It is designed for open mesh conveyors. The upper and lower thermocouples are separated by a thin shield.
Next, use SCORPION® Software (SV8) Food Safety Module to understand the data collected from the SCORPION® 2 Data Logger and analyze the results. The Food Safety Module simplifies the lethality calculation and generates a comprehensive report displaying cumulative log reduction.
This ease of measurement and robust data capture gives bakeries the ability to optimize their processes and meet food safety standards. Also, once you have invested in the full-featured SCORPION® 2 Data Logger, you can add smart sensors at any time to explore other oven variables, such as airflow, energy transfer, and humidity.
The state-of-the-art SCORPION® 2 from Reading Thermal will help you comply with FSMA requirements for kill-step validation of baked goods. Contact us online, or call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2 to learn more.