TAG Sensors temperature monitors for transporting food and pharmaceuticals

An estimated 10 million metric tons of food is wasted annually in the EU, with an associated cost of EUR 17 billion. This is primarily a result of temperature deviations during storage and transportation.

Temperature-controlled supply chains for perishable goods, also known as “cold chains”, rely on an uninterrupted environment of low temperatures within a certain range. Unfortunately, systems for monitoring transport temperatures are often inadequate or even non-existent. It is therefore difficult to determine whether temperatures have deviated from the safe range during transport, and if so, to establish when and where the deviation took place.

TAG Sensors are attached to a product, parcel or pallet and collect data continuously throughout a cold chain process. At every checkpoint, the sensors are read by radio-frequency identification (RFID) and a temperature log with timestamps is uploaded to the cloud.

Should the temperatures fall outside of the determined limits, an alert is sent to a logistics supervisor so that they may take appropriate action. This accountability guarantees the quality, origin and safety of the product, all the way from production to consumption.

Increased use of temperature logs allows transport companies to allocate weak spots and optimise the cold chain.

Quality control of perishable goods is the primary challenge of cold chain management. TAG Sensors enable logistics supervisors to hold transport and storage facilities accountable for temperature fluctuations, and to provide documentation of quality assurance at the final destination.

The TAG Sensor system is highly automated, the scanners and app are simple to use, and the sensors are customisable and disposable.

The cold chain monitoring market is expected to grow from USD 3.80 billion in 2018 to USD 6.46 billion by 2023.

TAG Sensors was founded in 2012. The company received a grant of EUR 1.4 million from the EU Horizon 2020 SME Instrument, Phase 2. Its customers include McDonald’s and HAVI Logistics Norway.