In the article High-Tech Hygiene from QSR Magazine talks about how managers can check health standards with a PDA. ParTech Inc's iQuality allows chain restaurants, as well as independents, to monitor a wide variety of food safety and restaurant sanitation items via a digital checklist on an internet connected PDA device. Karen Sammon is the president of ParTech's software decision says the iQuality allows you to follow HACCP guidlines. This is a good idea because you don't have to rely on a piece of paper that gets filed into a filing cabinet, which can be hard to find if not properly stored and not easily accessible to upper management. The PDA automatically uploads so that regional managers or corporate can easily access the information for the internet. You can also purchase a temperature probe which attaches to the PDA. If the temperature is off the PDA screen will flash and let you know what the problem is. It is not cheap or time friendly to implement this system but it is worth it. The result is easily accessible data that is easy to read and accurate.
Just because this technology uses a HACCP checklist, the cooks still need to know how to safely handle the food before it is cooked. You can't just rely on this and think your employees are working safely
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I am surprised there hasn't been any technology such as this invented yet. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our modern world and way of living we forget that not too long ago it was completely different. It seems as though this is such a simple idea that can remove alot of human error. Like most other new ideas, especially many of the going green techniques, and like Kristin said, the piece of equipment itself can be costly. But the errors it can prevent and the time it can save is worth it.
ReplyDeleteAlso touching on what Kristin said in the last paragraph, proper training is obviously still necessary. One fall back to all of the technology we have access to, is that people don't learn how to do whatever the task may be manually. Sanitation and HACCP is critical to the functioning of a kitchen and still needs to be implemented and educated.
This could be a good idea if it is implemented correctly. Making HAACP and food safety guidelines easier to monitor will make them followed more of the time. People are naturally lazy, and filling out paperwork can be time consuming. However, putting monitoring systems into something that people use everyday, such as a PDA, would make them much more likely to be followed. I definitely think this will be the way of the future.
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