US Patent 7027958 Food quality and safety model for refrigerated food

A system and method according to the invention includes a communication network and a food product manager in communication with a monitored location through the communication network, wherein the manager receives product-temperature condition information from the monitored location and determines a food characteristic for a refrigerated product as a function of a frequency and severity of the product-temperature condition information. The function may be a time-temperature calculation, a degree-minute calculation, or a bacteria-count calculation.