Giant Eagle enlists IoT system to help keep food fresh and safe

Giant Eagle has expanded its use of Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based temperature monitoring technology from SmartSense by Digi to bolster food freshness and quality.

Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle has deployed 32,000 new SmartSense remote digital temperature tracking devices to automatically and continuously monitor its critical food assets, Boston-based SmartSense said yesterday. The grocer’s walk-ins, chillers and refrigerators across all applicable supermarkets now include the SmartSense system.

SmartSense already provided temperature-control solutions for Giant Eagle’s 215 pharmacies and digital task management for 175 grocery properties and 92 convenience stores. Overall, the retailer has annual sales of about $10 billion and operates approximately 475 food and convenience stores, including over 200 supermarkets, across western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana.

SmartSense's IoT framework encompasses wireless sensors, food probes, digital checklists, and remote monitoring software and analytics tools. (Photo courtesy of SmartSense by Digi)

“We have been continually impressed with SmartSense’s innovative and intelligent solutions, which have allowed us to strengthen our unwavering commitment to maintaining the highest levels of food safety for the communities we serve,” Vic Vercammen, vice president of risk and chief compliance officer at Giant Eagle, said in a statement. “Specifically, capturing detailed data insights and prescriptive analytics via SmartSense’s advanced technologies will enhance our team members’ ability to monitor product freshness in real time.” 

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In an IoT ecosystem, web-enabled smart devices use embedded systems — such as processors, sensors and communications hardware — to collect, send and act on data gleaned from their environments. SmartSense said its system, installed in minutes, combines a mix of wireless sensors, food probes, digital checklists, and remote monitoring software and analytics tools. The company noted that a compliance monitoring dashboard and mobile app give the system’s users a holistic view of operations at every level, including actionable insights that can improve quality control, worker productivity and food safety compliance. 

Other food and drug retailers employing SmartSense solutions include Schnuck Markets, Walgreens and CVS Health

“We are proud to serve as an IoT partner for Giant Eagle. Our experience, easily solving compliance requirements of pharmacy and health care, empowers us to keep providing critical solutions for food safety and equipment optimization,” commented Guy Yehiav, president of SmartSense, part of Digi International. “With paper and manual checks a thing of the past, we help customers such as Giant Eagle advance their operations and move from physical logs to digital insights that inform their teams on the ground, with efficiency and effectiveness. We work with customers over the long term, evolving and developing prescriptive analytics from our scalable systems that distill operational data into clear actions that improve safety, quality and sustainability.” 

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