SFT-Seafood Tracker: A cold chain temperature ledger application

Michael Winchester SEO

Background
I spent five years running the San Pedro office of a Vancouver-based seafood seller. In seafood, live, fresh, and frozen products demand consistent, verifiable temperatures—there’s no margin for error. After watching product spoilage happen due to poor monitoring, I wanted a system that was reliable, auditable, and hard to tamper with. I first prototyped the idea in 2020 for my CS50x final project. Plenty of products have since appeared, but few match what SFT Seafood Tracker now delivers.

Precision Monitoring for Any Cold-Chain Product

Although built with seafood in mind, SFT works just as well for produce, meat, and dairy. It combines real-time readings, AI-assisted narratives, and tamper-evident logging to provide a trustworthy record from catch to delivery.

Live Sensor Data

SFT connects to temperature/humidity sensors deployed in cold rooms, trucks, and other critical points. Readings stream to a responsive dashboard (desktop & mobile). I use simple off-the-shelf hardware (ESP32 + DHT-11/22) that sends data to SFT over Wi-Fi. Sensors can be added or removed in the Admin Dashboard.

Alerts When It Matters

When conditions cross thresholds, SFT generates alerts you can acknowledge and audit. Admins can request AI summaries per alert or run a bulk “Summarize visible” action to add context, likely causes, and next steps. Each alert can also include an ETA estimate to a threshold based on trend analysis.

Historical Reporting & Exports

All readings are stored for filterable history by product, sensor, or date range. Every main view (Readings, Sensors, Alerts) supports CSV and PDF exports for audits and sharing.

New: HACCP Narrative & Daily Digest (with PDF)

SFT now includes purpose-built, AI-assisted reporting:

  • HACCP Narrative (HTML & PDF): Generate a concise, inspector-friendly summary of a selected time window:
    Hazard analysis, CCP status, deviations & risk, corrective actions, verification/records—in plain language using Celsius with correct context and KPIs (excursions, longest durations, MKT, etc.). No storage required; just generate and download.
  • Daily Digest: A short, operational daily recap (key events, risks, recommended actions). Great for morning stand-ups.

Both features are available to admins and respect your AI provider/model selection (see below).

AI You Control (Admin Console)

SFT’s AI is not hard-coded in the environment. From the Admin Console, you can pick:

  • Provider: OpenAI, Google (Gemini), OpenRouter, or Ollama (plus a Mock mode for testing)
  • Model: per provider
  • Temperature & HTTP timeout

API keys can live in the environment, but provider/model/behavior live in Settings, so you can switch vendors without redeploying.

SFT’s AI is used for:

  • Alert summaries (inline and bulk)
  • HACCP narratives
  • Daily digests
  • “Explain” links (context windows for a sensor over a selected range)

°C/°F: Smart, Consistent Units

Users can toggle °C/°F globally from the navbar. SFT:

  • Detects mixed historical thresholds (e.g., older sensors configured in °F) and normalizes to °C internally, then displays in the chosen unit.
  • Ensures all tables (Readings, Alerts, Sensors) and charts follow the user’s preference.
  • Uses Mean Kinetic Temperature (MKT) where meaningful, reported in °C.

Security & Data Integrity (Tamper-Evident by Design)

Every reading is chained to the previous via a cryptographic hash stored in a dedicated log with a previous-hash pointer. Daily integrity anchors (Merkle roots) allow external verification and audit. This provides:

  • Proof of non-tampering
  • Confidence for inspections and dispute resolution
  • Protection against accidental edits or data loss

Built for Shared Hosting (cPanel-Friendly)

SFT is designed to run anywhere—including shared hosts without shell access:

  • One-time installer can generate APP_KEY, seed core settings, and verify writable folders.
  • No CLI needed: SQL can be imported via phpMyAdmin; uploads via FTP.
  • Queue-optional: Defaults to synchronous processing if background queues aren’t available.
  • Performance tuned: Views avoid N+1 queries and heavy per-row work; pagination defaults are safe for shared environments.

Integrations & Access

  • WordPress Display Plugin: Expose selected dashboards or reports to staff or customers (read-only).
  • Role-based access: Admin pages for branding, AI settings, and user management.
  • PWA option: Users can install SFT like an app for quick access on the floor or on the dock.

Why Seafood Tracker?

Precision: Live monitoring with reliable thresholds and excursion metrics.
Security: Tamper-evident logs and daily integrity anchors.
Clarity: AI-assisted summaries (HACCP & Daily Digest) translate data into action.
Flexibility: Works for seafood and equally well for produce, meat, and dairy.
Practicality: Shared-hosting friendly deployment with CSV/PDF exports, role management, and a familiar Bootstrap UI.

If your operation depends on consistent cold-chain performance, SFT gives you real-time truth, explainable context, and auditable records all in one place.

Screenshots:

The Dashboard

Seafood Tracker Main Dashboard View with charts for temp, sensors, and products
Dashboard
Bottom of the Seafood Tracker dashboard page with links to your current product listings
Dashboard (bottom of page)

Product Manager, Sensors Alerts and Admin

Product list page where you can add, edit, and view what products are in the database
Product List
The Product Editor lets you add new products and their accompanying data.
Product Editor
More of the Product Editor module
Product Editor cont.
The All Sensors page is where you can manage your sensors. Add, Edit, and remove Sensors
Sensor Manager
Sensor Readings is where you will find the Readings for all connected Sensors
Sensor Readings
Inside the Admin console you add users or edit users - as well as have quick access to the other Admin page for Sensors, Ai integration, etc.
Admin Console
The User Manger is where you can, edit, or delete users from the application
User Manager
Alerts Console lets you view all the current Sensor Alerts in one place.
Alerts Console
Add or Edit your Users contact information here
User Editor
Custom Site Branding makes it possible to Add your logo and Brand Name to the Header of the Application
Site Branding
Light/dark Mode has been disabled at this time
Light/Dark Mode
Light/dark Mode has been disabled at this time
Light/Dark Mode

Demo Soon | Working on AWBs and Cargo Tracking

For more information or to purchase a license contact Michael Winchester

Michael Winchester
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Author: Michael Winchester

Coming from a background in design for the music industry; everything ranging from websites and micro-sites to custom print and apparel designs, I bring a creative edge to corporate, construction-focused, and other web projects that need to stand out. I strive to apply that same clarity and originality when writing about SEO/GEO and website performance; aiming to make complex topics more approachable, concise, and easy-to-understand. Outside of work, I spend my time field recording, playing with sound, and building experimental musical instruments. Michael Winchester is a website developer and search engine consultant in Southern California. Michael Winchester Design | (562)283-5688