Temperature Probe or Infrared Scanner?
We recommend you have a probe thermometer and an infrared temperature scanner gun in your kitchen, but they both have very different jobs.
Infrared Scanner Thermometer – For checking cold foods and food delivery temperatures
Use an infrared Scanner Thermometer to take the surface temperature of food deliveries or cold products. This is a safe method of checking temperature of food deliveries and cold foods as it ensures there is no potential for cross contamination or for damaging packaging. Never use a probe thermometer on raw chicken or meat as it is a potential source for cross contamination (chicken – Campylobacter, meat – Ecoli).
An infrared thermometer is also good for checking the temperature of chilled ready to eat foods in display fridges (sandwiches, salads etc.) as it avoids any potential for cross contamination from using a probe.
Probe Thermometer – For checking core temperature of cooked foods
A ProbeThermometer must be used to check the core temperature of cooked food. When cooking, the outside of the food will be a lot hotter than the core. To ensure the food is cooked through, we need to check the core cooking temperature with a temperature probe..
Calibrate your scanner and probe each week to ensure they are working correctly:-
- Scan/probe ice water and the temperature should record 0°C (or a maximum tolerance of 1° either way)
- Scan/probe boiling water and the temperature should record 100°C (or a maximum tolerance of 1° either way)
Did you know that, in the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, people use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing!
