A LogTag is a traditional temperature logger. It is basically a thermometer with memory. It will wake up every couple of minutes, take the temperature, and store it in memory.
You then come along and plug it into your computer, and you get a graph or table of all the readings. This gives you a complete picture as to what has been happening over the past day, week, or month.
It is an awesome audit tool to prove that something was always at the correct temperature. It is independent, can’t be bribed, and is reliable, unlike the underpaid, underage staff that creatively fill in the paperwork.
BUT when things do go wrong, you know exactly when, for how long, and how bad it was. That is very useful information when deciding if stock needs to be disposed as well as trying to work out the cause.
A common issue that EHOs have is knowing that a business is doing the right thing, even when you aren’t there.
Surprise visits are an awesome way of ensuring that they can’t do a quick clean-up before you arrive. BUT that’s a lot of effort and you still have to be timing your surprise visit for when they are likely to be doing the <insert unwanted behaviour here>.
A temperature logger allows you to be monitoring the temperature without being present. It allows you to totally crack down on someone and really expect them to lift their game.
If you aren’t happy with their current performance, you can leave a logger on site and check the results on your return visit.
Or you can send a logger out prior to an inspection to get some really meaningful data.
Either way, the amazing thing about having a temperature logger on site is that they know they are being monitored for an extended period, and that now means they need to fix any problems and not just cover them up.
I mentioned it before, but legally this has some big benefits for you. There is no debate that this is what the temperature was. It’s not based on a one-off check with manually entered notes.
It also means that if your customer is using a temperature logger, you can have more confidence in the records that they are keeping.
With the LogTag configuration, you can enable or disable the red alarm LED. Our recommendation is to disable it.
This means that when you turn the LogTag on, it will always flash green. There is no indication that the logger picked up temperatures that were too hot.
It is amazing how many temperature loggers were accidentally driven over by a fork lift (how did a forklift get into the café in the first place?) when they start to flash red.
Before I forget, you do need to configure the Logtag prior to use. The software is free and can be downloaded from logtag.com.au.
To clear the data from it, reconfigure it.
If you reconfigure it, my advice is to have the following options:
And REMEMBER TO PUSH THE BUTTON TO START!!! It will flash red/green when it starts.
Latency, when it comes to temperature logging, refers to the delay between a change in temperature and when that change is detected and recorded by the logger. This delay can be due to the sensor’s design, the materials it’s placed in, or the logging interval. While it might sound like a disadvantage, latency can actually serve a useful purpose in certain environments—particularly where short-term temperature spikes are common but not harmful.
For example, in a busy commercial fridge, the temperature may briefly rise every time the door is opened. A logger with high latency won’t immediately react to these short fluctuations, helping to avoid unnecessary alarms or false data indicating a problem when there isn’t one. In these cases, a slight delay in response acts like a filter, focusing attention on real issues—such as prolonged exposure to unsafe temperatures—while ignoring the everyday ups and downs that don’t affect product quality or safety.
Depending on the type of logger you have, connecting your logger to your PC means either:
First Generation LogTags use a separate Reader (sometimes called a dock) for configuration and for downloading recorded data.
The Second Generation loggers only require a USB port or cable. Apart from saving the cost of the Reader, this makes them much better suited for shipping, because the recipient doesn’t need a LogTag Reader to download a report about the shipment’s journey.
