What's new in Cook & Chill

Cooling records you can stand behind

Both cooling stages must be on time. A batch is marked Compliant only if it reached 21 °C within 2 hours of dropping below 60 °C, and 5 °C within a further 4 hours. Reaching 5 °C quickly no longer makes up for a slow first stage.

Verdicts come from the probe, not a keyboard. A batch's result is worked out from its probe readings, and it can't be typed in or edited by hand. If a batch needs to stop (the probe came out of the food, or the batch was binned), a manager can now Abandon it with a reason. Their name and the reason are kept on the record.

Gaps in readings are handled honestly. If a probe stops reporting at the moment that decides the result, SmartProbe waits for the missing readings to arrive. Delayed readings from a tablet that was offline, for example, still count. If they never arrive, the batch is marked Could not verify instead of guessing either way.

Only the probe you chose counts. A batch is graded only on the probe channel selected when it was started, never on another sensor on the same device.

A tighter compliance buffer. The small allowance for the gap between probe readings is now at most 10 minutes. Each batch keeps the allowance in force when it started, so changing the setting later never changes past results.

Know straight away when a batch fails

When a batch is Non-compliant or Could not verify, SmartProbe now:

• opens a corrective action for that batch, so you can record what was done with the food, and

• sends an alert by email or SMS to the people subscribed to it.

Action needed: go to Notification Manager, find Cook Chill Batch Failed or Unverified, and add the people who should hear about it. Until someone is subscribed, corrective actions are still created, but nobody is alerted.

A new Cook Chill Hub

Cook Chill Hub now sits at the top of the Cook & Chill menu and gives you the picture at a glance:

• Choose a period (today, last 7 days, last 30 days, or custom dates) and a site.

• See how many batches were compliant, non-compliant, could not be verified, abandoned or are still running.

• See open corrective actions and failed spot checks.

• Needs attention now lists batches waiting on probe data or close to a deadline.

• Tap any number to see exactly the batches behind it.

• Print cooling log for this period gives you a full cooling record for the same site and dates, ready for an inspector. It shows when cooling started, when 21 °C and 5 °C were reached, how long each stage took, and the result and reason.

Managers who look after one site see that site automatically.

Setup has moved to its own page, Cook Chill Settings, at the bottom of the menu. That's where you manage Categories, Foods and Thresholds.

Quicker in the kitchen

Starting a batch now asks for the food first. If you work at one site and it has one free probe, both are filled in for you, so most batches need a single tap to choose the food.

Spot checks start on your site's process probe, ask what type of check you're doing before the temperature so the limit is on screen while you probe, and remember the type you last used for that food.

Optional staff member. Both forms have a new, optional Staff member field, so a shared kitchen login can record who actually did the batch or check. It starts blank every time, and the logged-in account is still recorded alongside it.

Tidier screens. Forms and filters now slide in from the side instead of popping up in the middle of the screen. Lists remember your filters and search when you open a record and come back. Starting a batch confirms what's being monitored.

Custom Processes: now in Cook & Chill, and ready to try

Custom Processes follows a probe through processes other than cooling, such as reheating, cooking to a core temperature or hot holding. It can also run the Australian Standard Cook & Chill rules. It now sits inside the Cook & Chill menu and is marked Testing while we finish it. Your Cook Chill batches work exactly as described above: custom runs are graded alongside them, not instead of them.

The same honest grading as Cook Chill

• Every stage must be proven on time from the probe readings.

• If a gap in the readings decides the result, SmartProbe waits for the delayed readings. If they never arrive, the run is marked Could not verify.

• Only the probe channel you chose counts.

• Runs that have already finished keep their results.

No typed results

• A run can be Abandoned with a reason while none of its time limits has passed. The person's name and the reason are kept on the record.

• Monitor-only runs are closed with a reason.

• If a template allows a stage to be late as a warning only, the run now reads Compliant with warnings, never plain Compliant.

Failures are followed up

A run that is Non-compliant or Could not verify opens a corrective action and alerts the people subscribed to it.

Action needed if you're trying Custom Processes: go to Notification Manager, find Custom Process Failed or Unverified, and add the people who should hear about it. It is separate from the Cook Chill alert while Custom Processes is in testing.

Quicker to start

• The site, the probe and the process you last ran there are filled in for you.

• Choose the food (required for the Australian Standard Cook & Chill template), then add a batch code and a staff member if you want to.

• Kitchen staff logins can now start runs.

Easier to review

• Custom Process Runs has a tab for each result, filters for site, template and dates, and a Print for inspectors.

• Each run shows the food, the probe, who started it, and the rules it was graded against.

• A run warns you if its probe stops reporting.

• Cook Chill Hub shows these runs in their own Cook & Chill runs in Custom Processes (Testing) section. They are never added to your batch figures.

Templates

• Only workspace owners can create or edit templates, because a template sets the rules for every site. Managers can still view templates, and start and abandon runs.

• Every stage now needs a time limit, and every template a start time limit.

• Each template's rules are shown in one line in the list.

• Copying the Australian Standard Cook & Chill template gives you an ordinary custom template to adjust. Only the original counts as Cook & Chill.

Questions?

If anything looks different from what you expect, or you'd like a hand setting up alerts, just get in touch with our support team.