Cambridge, UK – Rail Gourmet (RG), a leading provider of food, beverage, and specialist solutions to the travel industry, has adopted Timestrip neo Multi temperature and time indicators after a successful trial which reduced food waste by a half. The Timestrip multi-use smart indicators have been selected to support the highest standards of food safety on board TransPennine Express (TPE) trains.
The small, lightweight electronic devices travel with food consignments, continuously monitoring ambient conditions. The indicators are attached to each chilled cabinet, and provide real-time data on temperature breaches, with a series of LED lights displaying the duration of any exposure to elevated temperatures.
Each neo Multi device is reset at the end of each journey leg and replaced after five uses, ensuring consistent performance, and being re-usable, are highly cost effective.
Addressing a Critical Challenge
With the introduction of hot meals on TPE trains, which are pre-cooked, blast-frozen, and re-generated on board, RG faced a significant challenge in monitoring food safety. Without a reliable method to track the time for which food was stored above the recommended temperature of 8°C, RG had to discard perfectly fresh food after four hours, leading to avoidable losses.
Since deploying the neo Multi indicators, RG has achieved substantial cost savings by reducing unnecessary food waste by half over a three-month period.
“The neo Multi has worked very well for us; its reliability and simplicity are its greatest attributes in our application,” said Paul Hewitt, Operations Manager of RG. “We have been able to avoid unnecessary waste and make substantial savings.”
This initiative is part of RG’s ongoing commitment to delivering quality service across major routes connecting cities in northern England and Scotland. With increased confidence in the safety and quality of food on board, RG now has the potential to re-load food onto subsequent trains, further reducing waste and operational costs.
The TT525-RA neo Multi 8°C, 2 and 4-hour indicator is a standard product from Timestrip, with other specifications and custom solutions available for different applications.
