Choosing the right type of food thermometer

No kitchen is complete without one essential little piece of equipment: a food thermometer. You can't tell if a food is safely cooked by sight, smell or even taste. A food thermometer is the only way to ensure food is cooked to the proper temperature and harmful bacteria are eliminated.

 

Why do you need a food thermometer?

 

  • Food Safety - Food safety should be a top priority for any foodservice business. With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, many of those cases come from incorrect handling of food. When foods are allowed to enter the danger zone, or the temperature range in which bacteria can thrive, they are unsafe to eat. Food thermometers are the best tool you can use to prevent this from occurring.
  • Food Preparation – How do you ensure food is cooked to perfection? A food thermometer ensures that your steaks are prepared to the exact temperature required so that your customers are satisfied. Precise temperature control is very important in certain types of food preparation, like candy making, that require you to heat sugar to the boiling point.

 

What are the considerations in choosing the thermometer?

 

As food temperatures are so important, having a reliable thermometer on hand is a necessity. There is many choices and brands of food thermometer in the market, and the price range varies. Are all food thermometers the same? And how can you choose the best one for your kitchen?

 

These are some of the important considerations when you are looking for a good food thermometer:

 

  • Response Time - This is the amount of time it takes for the thermometer to give an accurate reading. For busy chefs, a fast response can be extremely helpful when temperatures need to be taken quickly. It also helps to have an instant read when checking food deliveries.
  • Accuracy - When it comes to ensuring foods are out of the food safety danger zone, accuracy can be very important. It's crucial when preparing items like steaks that need to be cooked to exact temperatures.
  • Temperature Range - The temperature range of a thermometer determines whether it can be used for hot applications, cold applications, or both.
  • Read Out Type - Kitchen thermometers either come with digital or dial read outs. Digital screens are easy to read and these thermometers often have other features, like alarms to alert you when a certain temperature has been reached.

 

Which type of food thermometer is right for me?

 

1. Food Core Temperature

Penetration thermometers are indispensable for determining the core temperatures of foods. Measurement of core temperature is important not only in Incoming Goods. In the HACCP concept, the sufficient heating of foods is also a critical control point which needs to be monitored and documented without interruption.

The penetration probe is either fixed permanently to the instrument or, in the case of changing measurement tasks, can be externally attached. This way even measurements in frozen goods can be carried out effortlessly

 

     

testo 103 Folding thermometer                          

 

testo 106 food core thermometer

 

2. Surface Temperature/Infrared Thermometer

In Incoming Goods, non-contact infrared measurement is used frequently, as it provides fast results without damaging the product or the packaging. However, please note: An infrared thermometer measures only the surface temperature. In order to record the core temperature of foods, penetration measurements are necessary. For this reason, the use of a combi instrument such as testo 104-IR is convenient and saves time, since it gives you both measurement methods – precise penetration measurement and fast IR measurement – in one instrument. It is also handy and can be safely stowed in any pocket.

 

           

testo 104-IR Combination of IR and Penetration thermometer  

             

testo 831 - HACCP Certified Infrared Thermometer

 

 

If these still does not satisfy your needs, there are more choices from our range of Food Thermometer.