Associated Food Stores (AFS) is making changes to improve food safety at its Farr West Distribution Center. The Utah-based wholesaler recently implemented two new systems, the AutoSense Inbound and AutoSense Real-Time logger from Emerson, to help monitor temperature and ensure products remain in compliance with food safety regulations during transport and storage. The new systems have been implemented over the last 12 months.
 
AutoSense InBound allows AFS to track the temperature of a pallet during transport from the vendor to the distribution center. Vendors purchase, program and set the chip on their pallets before they are shipped. When the pallet arrives at the distribution center, it syncs with AFS’ iBrite monitoring system and provides a temperature report, allowing the receiving team to determine the safeness of the product before accepting the load.
 
“A few months ago we received a load of bananas that had basically cooked inside the trailer during transport. With the report from AutoSense Inbound we were able to show that it wasn’t safe and it saved us from losing the load,” said Terri Jensen, receiving manager at the distribution center. She and her team have led the effort to bring the AutoSense trackers to the facility.
 
AFS has also implemented the AutoSense Real-Time logger to help monitor the temperature of products stored in trailers when the distribution is in overflow. The system monitors the temperature inside each trailer and sends an alert to the receiving team if any go out of range, allowing them to quickly check it and make adjustments before the product is compromised.
 
“The AutoSense systems are basically insurance policies for us and our vendors,” Jensen said. “They allow us to ensure the products we receive and send to our stores are safe and prevent us from losing product.”