From data to action – How live dashboards protect brands and reduce risk

By Eamonn Ryan

In the modern food industry, a single cold chain failure can destroy decades of brand equity. Johan Ferreira of Coldcubed points to notorious examples – such as the Enterprise Foods crisis in South Africa – to show how food safety incidents can permanently damage, or even end, once-dominant brands. His solution is not more policies, but better data and better translation of data into action.

Ferreira argues that traditional cold chain data is fragmented, late and often unreliable. Manual logs are prone to fabrication – he describes visiting a store where all temperature checks for the day were filled in at 16:00. The result is what he calls the “invisible paradox”: everyone argues about who is at fault when food spoils, but nobody can produce hard evidence.

Coldcubed’s system uses live-streaming dashboards that convert raw temperature readings into actionable information. Sensors, placed in grid patterns around products and facilities, send data to dashboards that refresh every 5–20 minutes. Rather than focusing on evaporator performance or supply air at the evaporators, the system reports what the product actually experiences.

The impact is wide-ranging:

• Food safety: Temperature abuses can allow pathogens or toxin-producing organisms to proliferate, putting consumers at risk of serious illness or death. Continuous data allows companies to spot deviations early and intervene before unsafe product reaches shelves.
• Brand protection: When something goes wrong, having time-stamped, verified data allows companies to prove compliance or identify the true source of failure. In one case, Coldcubed was able to show that a customer’s cheese had not experienced temperature fluctuations that could cause mold, shifting liability away from the distribution centre and back up the supply chain.
• Regulatory compliance: Food laws, especially in markets like the UK, push liability down the chain – from retailers to DCs to transport to suppliers. If each link can demonstrate that temperatures were within specification during its custody, responsibility accurately moves to where the failure actually occurred.
• Energy and carbon footprint: Without visibility, many operators simply overcool to ‘be safe’, especially when doors are left open. Ferreira notes that in reality, doors may only be open a small portion of the day, yet systems are set colder 24/7. Live data reveals when and where overcooling happens, enabling significant energy savings and carbon reduction.

Crucially, Ferreira emphasises that data alone is not enough. It must be structured and presented as information that non-engineers can interpret and act on. Dashboards must highlight trends, anomalies, and risks in ways that frontline staff and managers can understand quickly.

By making the cold chain visible, structured and shareable, live dashboards turn an invisible risk into a manageable asset – one that supports food safety, regulatory compliance, and long-term brand resilience.