Mobile food inspection

UpLynx, the US-based technology provider, has launched its food inspection and audit application for use on handheld computers - the Insight application.

The technology has been launched to complement the growing trend to rapidly automate many paper-based activities. Mobile professionals are quickly adopting the use of handheld devices like the Palm Pilot, the Compaq iPAQ, and Web mobile phones to perform many activities previously confined to the desk top PC. However, according to UpLynx research, the number of employees performing physical audit, inspection, and check sheet-based tasks using a pencil, paper form, and clipboard seems to have diminished little.

The company claims that the food and health inspection industry continues to gather the most part of its inspection data on paper, which means that the subsequent labour, reports, citations, or other data needs involved can take weeks or months to complete. Future inspection planning, follow-ups, and the ability to observe trends are cursory at best, the company further states, because of the work involved in creating them. Consumers, therefore, can remain exposed to potential health hazards for a longer period of time than is necessary.

To address the inefficiencies in the area of clipboard and paper-form data collection and reporting process, UpLynx has created its Insight application. UpLynx's Insight is an integration of database, mobile computing, Internet, desktop computing, and local/wide area network technologies to provide customised solutions. Inspection results can be compiled, sorted and distributed as desired while reducing the labour involved. Additionalinformation and Insight can be viewed on the company's​ web site.