Calibrating More Than Just Thermometers

While classic bimetallic-stemmed thermometers have largely given way to modern digital alternatives, the act of calibrating them remains a fundamental food safety ritual drilled into foodservice professionals from their first week on the job. However, if your kitchen’s verification strategy stops at thermometers, you leave significant blind spots in your food safety defense system.

Calibration is the process of configuring an instrument to produce results within an acceptable range. In a modern commercial kitchen, we rely on dozens of automated systems, mechanical components, and electronic meters to keep food safe and ensure sanitation compliance. If these systems drift off-target, the consequences can be disastrous. To achieve true operational control, operators must expand their scope and examine three frequently overlooked compliance areas: dish machines, chemical dispensers, and automated data loggers.

Whether you operate a high-temperature sanitizing or a low-temperature machine that uses chemical sanitizers, the built-in gauges are your only immediate window into compliance. The FDA Food Code requires that high-temperature final rinse cycles reach at least 180°F (or 165°F for stationary racks) to ensure the dishware’s surface reaches the required 160°F sanitizing threshold.

However, external mechanical temperature gauges on dish machines can easily lose calibration due to constant vibrations, scale buildup, and regular wear and tear. If a gauge displays 180°F but the water is hitting 172°F, you are inadvertently washing dishes in the danger zone. Verification requires secondary testing. Operators must regularly use single-use dishwasher testing labels that have been run through a full cycle to verify that the performance of the machine matches its readout.

In low-temperature dish machines, three-compartment sinks, and automated chemical dispensing systems, chemical concentration is a matter of balance. Too little chemical results in a failure to sanitize, leaving harmful pathogens behind. Too much chemical can result in chemical contamination of food contact surfaces, presenting a direct hazard to guests.

Automated wall-mounted chemical dispensers rely on small, internal metering tips to pull the precise ratio of water and concentrated chemical. Over time, chemical crystallization, water pressure fluctuations, and mineral buildup can alter these ratios. Relying solely on the dispenser to do its job without regular verification is a gamble. Dispensers must be checked against manual chemical test strips, and the delivery pumps must be adjusted if the parts-per-million (PPM) deviate from manufacturer and regulatory guidelines.

…these tasks depend heavily on your specific operation, including the volume of food you are pushing out, the exact type of equipment you use, and your production system…

As the industry shifts toward digital food safety management, automated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi data-loggers have become the gold standard for monitoring walk-in coolers, freezers, and hot-holding cabinets. These sensors provide incredible peace of mind by constantly tracking ambient temperatures and sending alerts if a unit fails. But technology is not infallible. Automated loggers require regular comparisons to ensure their internal software offset is reading correctly.

To ensure these critical checks do not fall through the cracks, operators should implement a Master Calibration Schedule. Tracking these moving parts requires structured organization rather than memory.

In my experience, there are certain things you need to handle daily, others you can tackle each week, and some that only need attention once a month. Keep in mind, though, that these tasks depend heavily on your specific operation, including the volume of food you are pushing out, the exact type of equipment you use, and your production system. While I know your time is valuable, taking a few hours to critically review your operation will yield massive rewards for your kitchen down the road.

Once you have your system in place, document everything in a centralized master logbook or within your digital operating platform. Record the date, the instrument identifier, the initial reading, any corrective actions taken, and the initials of the verifying employee. When a health inspector sees an organized, comprehensive calibration history that extends far beyond standard handheld probes, it signals a top-tier culture of food safety excellence. Risk Nothing.

Developing Good Food Safety Habits

Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.

Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized

As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.

Getting Started with Building the Infrastructure

Hopefully in our first January blog, we convinced you of the importance of establishing an infrastructure within your operation to support a safe food culture. So, how does one go about doing this? Well, like any major project, break it into small bites. In our opinion, having a written guide for employees that documents expectations related to food safety basics of employee health and hygiene, temperature controls, and cleaning and sanitizing is the first step. Having this documentation serves as a reference for training and helps fulfill the mission of most foodservice operators which is to serve safe, quality food.

Food Safety Resolutions for the New Year

Finally, 2020 is in our rearview mirror and we can all turn the page to 2021! Resolutions for the new year might be more of the same from prior years (lose weight, exercise more, less screen time, etc.) OR you may have identified new practices to implement in your operation. If the latter, likely goals included some practices related to food safety – especially given the turmoil of 2020 and heightened concern by customers. It is our philosophy that attention to safe food handling practices is a win-win for any operation because of the direct relationship between food safety and food quality, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. This past year has also demonstrated that attention to safety can affect the bottom line. Thus, the topic of our first SafeBites webinar for 2021 is on the topic of the return on investment of food safety, it is scheduled for January 20, so register now and please plan to attend.