Retained samples, one tap per meal period, never skipped.
At every meal period you choose, the tablet reminds the crew to pull a sample of what went out. Tap the period, note the dishes if you want, validate. The discard date is worked out for you, the log is signed, and nothing gets lost at the back of the reach-in.
No credit card. Any off-the-shelf Android tablet will do.
Proof that a sample was pulled, meal period after meal period
When a guest reports getting sick, the retained sample is what lets a lab test what was actually served. That only works if it was pulled that day, kept cold, and you can show when.
Where this comes from
The FDA Food Code does not require retained samples. Caterers, school districts, hospitals and senior living kitchens keep them anyway: a few ounces of each menu item, kept at 41 °F or below for several days, labeled with the date and the meal period. Some contracts and some state or district programs ask for it in writing.
The trouble with the clipboard
The sample sheet gets filled in every other shift, in handwriting nobody reads back. Deli cups pile up at the back of the reach-in with faded tape, nobody knows which ones to toss, and the day you need the sample from a given lunch, that one is missing.
What Tracito changes
A task shows up at every meal period you picked, so it cannot slip by. One tap, a first name, the time, and the log is written. The tablet works out the discard date and shows what is still being held. A reminder tells the crew which day's samples to toss.
Turn it on once, then one tap per meal period
The Tracito way: you set the kitchen up at the start, then the crew only taps. No options on screen during service. This module is optional and off by default; a caterer or a cafeteria turns it on in a minute.
Your meal periods, your holding time
You pick the meal periods where samples get pulled: lunch and dinner, or lunch only for a school cafeteria. You set how long they are held, 3, 5 or 7 days. Most programs work with 3 to 5 days; use whatever your food safety plan or your contract says.
An option adds a discard reminder: when the holding time is up, a task “discard Thursday lunch samples” shows up on the day's list, so the reach-in does not fill up with old deli cups. All of it can be changed later from the tablet or from your web account.
Pull the sample: tap the period, note, validate
The cups are filled and lidded, a crew member taps the meal period on the day's list. They can note the dishes set aside (meatloaf, mac and cheese, apple crisp) or leave the field blank: it is optional. They pick their first name, the time is already there, they validate. The sample is in the log, with the period and the date.
If lunch and dinner are both covered, each period has its own task. A period that was skipped stays visible as overdue, it can be caught up, and the catch-up is marked as such. The tablet works without Wi-Fi: the entry is saved on the spot and goes out on its own once the network is back.
See what is being held, and when to toss it
Below the day's meal periods, the “Held” list shows every sample still in the cooler with its date, its period and its discard date: “Thu, Sep 10 · Lunch · discard on Tue, Sep 15”. No more squinting at masking tape to figure out which cups are past their time.
With the reminder turned on, the discard task shows up on the right day and gets validated like any other. Every sample has its in and its out, dated and signed, in the same log.
The log writes itself
Every validation joins the module's register: date, meal period, time, first name, dishes noted, discard. Nothing gets erased: a cancelled entry stays visible, crossed out, with who cancelled it and when. An entry made after the fact is marked as such.
The register exports to PDF or goes out by e-mail, for the period you pick: today, this week, this month, this year. It is the sample sheet, without the sheet.
You know, without asking
- The day on one screen. Lunch samples pulled, dinner still to do, a skipped period showing as overdue. Today's discard task sits in the same list as everything else.
- A notification when something goes wrong. A non-compliance in any module lands on your phone with the meal period, the person and what was done. You choose the quiet hours.
- Inspection mode. Hand the tablet to the health inspector: a read-only view, every register dated, the period's samples, the complete file as a PDF.
- The summary by e-mail. Every Monday and at the start of each month: what was done, missed and out of range, module by module.
- From your web account. The same registers, the full settings, several locations, a consultant invited in read-only mode.
It fits your kitchen, not the other way around
Off by default, on when you need it
A diner or a food truck will never see this module unless the manager turns it on. A caterer can switch it on for wedding season and off in January; a school kitchen or a hospital leaves it on year-round. Turning it off keeps every past entry in the register.
3, 5 or 7 days
Pick the holding time your program calls for. A caterer serving off-site events often keeps 5 to 7 days to cover late complaints; a cafeteria with daily menus may settle for 3. Every sample keeps the holding time that applied the day it was pulled, even if you change it later.
Missed periods get cleared, never silently
No sample on a Sunday when the kitchen was closed for a private event? The manager can clear the overdue tasks by giving a reason. It is written in the register: the log shows that a sample was missed and why, not a hole.
One tablet for the whole crew
No account or password per person: everyone picks their first name when validating, and that first name goes in the register. Several tablets and phones can be used in the same kitchen, each one sees what the others have pulled.
The detailed answers are in the help center
- How do I log the retention samples for a meal period?
- How do I set the services, the retention time (3, 5 or 7 days) and the disposal reminder?
- How do I know which samples to pull from the walk-in, and where is the register?
All the module’s questions: help center › Retained samples.
Your samples pulled and logged from the next meal period
Create your location, pick your meal periods and your holding time, pull the first sample. 30-day free trial, no credit card. Then 29 € a month or 290 € a year per location, all modules included.
paper is over