What this is
What is a temperature log?
What is a temperature log?
It is the running record of product temperature for a single journey, captured from loading through to the customer accepting or rejecting it. It combines manual readings taken at intervals with the downloaded record from a logger, and is the document that has to reconcile if the two disagree.
What is the difference between air temperature and product temperature?
Air temperature is what the refrigeration unit's sensor reports for the space inside the trailer; product temperature is what a probe reads inserted into the load itself. The two can differ by several degrees at loading, because product carries its own thermal mass and does not equalise with the air quickly. A compliant air reading does not establish a compliant product.
What counts as a temperature excursion?
An excursion is any period where the product moves outside the range required for its category, whether picked up on a manual reading, flagged by Within Range, or found later in the logger data. It is a separate finding from a single marginal reading — it is about duration and product affected, which is why this template links out to a dedicated excursion record.
Scope
When is a temperature log required?
This log is one step in a larger programme. Using it for work belonging to a neighbouring template produces records that are hard to report on later, and for cold chain, hard to defend if a customer disputes the load.
Use this template when
- A temperature-controlled load — chilled, frozen or mixed temperature — is being loaded, moved or delivered
- A new journey needs its own log, in the form TEMP-2026-000, kept continuously from loading through to delivery
- You are running the Cold Chain and Transport programme and this log is one of its steps
- A linked record depends on this one existing: an excursion found in the data is raised against this log's Excursion Record ID
- The customer or receiving site needs evidence of the temperature history for the load they are accepting
Do not use it for
- Cold Chain Excursion Record, which records a temperature deviation outside the acceptable range in its own right — duration, product affected and disposition — rather than the continuous reading history.
- Trailer Sanitation Record, which records cleaning and inspection of the trailer before food loading, not temperature performance once loaded.
- Refrigeration Unit Service Record, which tracks maintenance of the unit itself, not any single journey's readings.
- Load Securement Check, which confirms the load is physically secured for the journey, and has nothing to say about temperature.
- Anything outside KnowFleet, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process.
Compliance mapping
Which FSMA Sanitary Transportation rule requirements does this satisfy?
The FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule sits in 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O, and follows the same shape as this template: equipment first, then the obligation to maintain temperature, then the record of having done so.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| 21 CFR 1.908(b) — Vehicles and transportation equipment | Equipment transporting food requiring temperature control must be adequately designed to maintain it, and that capability should be confirmed before loading. | Loading |
| 21 CFR 1.910(b) — Transportation operations | The carrier must operate the vehicle and equipment to maintain the temperature conditions necessary to prevent the food becoming unsafe, from loading onward. | Loading |
| 21 CFR 1.910(b) — Transportation operations | Temperature maintenance is a continuous operating obligation for the journey, not a condition checked once and assumed to hold. | In transit readings |
| 21 CFR 1.910(b) — Transportation operations | The temperature at which food is received must be verified before acceptance, the point at which the carrier's obligation is discharged. | Delivery |
| 21 CFR 1.912(a)–(c) — Records | Carriers must retain records adequate to demonstrate temperature conditions were monitored throughout transportation, available for review. | Data |
| 21 CFR 1.908(c) — Vehicles and transportation equipment | Equipment must be pre-checked as capable of maintaining the specific temperature the load requires, not a generic cold-capable rating. | Header |
What it does not cover
- Trailer Pre-Cooled marked Yes, which confirms the air sensor reached temperature, not that Product Temperature At Loading was checked against the same range.
- Within Range marked Yes at every logged interval, which the intervals may be too widely spaced to catch a short excursion between readings.
- Any Excursion In Data marked No, which Logger Data Downloaded and Data Complete For Whole Trip were not both confirmed first, so the absence of an excursion may just be absent data.
- Customer Checked Temperature marked Yes, which does not record what temperature the customer found, only that a check happened.
- Doors Opened Since Last Reading marked No, which is not itself scored, so a string of door openings between readings leaves no trace in the compliance percentage.
Global
Temperature Log requirements by country
The FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule is a US instrument, but cold chain loads routinely cross into other regimes, and the equipment doing the work is often certified under a standard this template never names.
FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule (21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O)
Applies to shippers, carriers and receivers moving human or animal food by motor or rail vehicle in the US, tying temperature maintenance to written procedures and records.
The Loading and In transit readings sections of this log are the operational evidence the rule expects a carrier to produce on request.
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Annex II Chapter IX
General food hygiene law requires transport of food likely to support pathogen growth maintain temperatures that do not compromise safety, without prescribing the exact monitoring method.
A log built for US record-keeping expectations still has to demonstrate the same outcome — temperature maintained throughout — for an EU or UK site, even where the citation differs.
ATP Agreement (Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs, UNECE, 1970)
Governs certification of the refrigerated equipment itself for cross-border transport, independently of any single journey's readings.
A trailer with an expired or absent ATP certificate can produce a perfectly compliant log and still fail the equipment standard a border or customer audit checks first.
How to complete it
How to complete a temperature log, step by step
The fields that decide whether this log protects the business are the ones requiring judgement about what the numbers mean, not the ones that simply record a reading.
Product Temperature At Loading has to be a probe reading from inside the load, not an inference from Trailer Temperature At Loading. A trailer can be perfectly pre-cooled around product that never reached temperature itself.
Within Range answered clean at every interval only rules out an excursion if the gap between readings is short relative to how fast temperature can drift with doors open or the unit cycling. Wide gaps and a clean record have ruled out less than it looks like.
No excursion found only means something if Logger Data Downloaded and Data Complete For Whole Trip are both confirmed. An excursion answer sourced from a gapped download is a claim about the data that exists, not the journey.
Rejection Reason only appears when Customer Accepted Load is No, and a vague entry there — 'too warm' — throws away the diagnostic value of everything recorded upstream. It should point back to where the reading first went out of range.
What auditors find
Most common temperature log findings
The same gaps recur across temperature logs, and each one turns a clean-looking record into one that cannot actually answer the question a dispute will ask.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Trailer Pre-Cooled marked Yes with Product Temperature At Loading showing an out-of-range figure and no follow-up | 21 CFR 1.908(b) | Block Product Within Specification At Loading from defaulting Yes when the recorded figure falls outside Required Temperature Range. |
| Any Excursion In Data marked No with Logger Data Downloaded marked No | 21 CFR 1.912(a)–(c) | Make Logger Data Downloaded marked Yes a precondition for answering Any Excursion In Data at all. |
| In transit readings logged at wide, irregular intervals with no minimum frequency enforced | 21 CFR 1.910(b) | Set a minimum reading frequency for the repeating section, tied to product category and journey duration. |
| Customer Accepted Load marked Yes with Rejection Reason absent, on a load where Within Specification At Delivery was already No | 21 CFR 1.910(b) | Flag an acceptance answer that contradicts the delivery reading for review before the log is allowed to close. |
| Data Complete For Whole Trip marked Gaps with no note on where the gap falls or why | 21 CFR 1.912(a)–(c) | Require a short note whenever Data Complete For Whole Trip is answered anything other than Yes. |
| Provided To Customer marked Not requested on a load later disputed | 21 CFR 1.912(c) | Prompt logger data be offered proactively on any load flagged Marginal or worse at Within Specification At Delivery. |
Case in point
Case in point: the clean log built on a two-hour gap
A chilled load was delivered with Customer Checked Temperature marked Yes, Customer Accepted Load marked Yes, and the log showing every logged interval within range. When the customer later reported a batch had spoiled early, the carrier pulled the full logger download rather than relying on the manual readings already recorded, and found a two-hour gap between two logged entries where the unit had in fact cycled off.
The manual readings either side of the gap were both compliant, so nothing on the form as submitted looked wrong — Data Complete For Whole Trip had been marked Yes without the download being checked against the manual entries first. The fix was procedural: that field is now answered only after the logger file is opened and its timestamps compared against the manual readings, not assumed from a download having simply occurred.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
5 sections
- Reference
- FLT-026
- Archetype
- Log
- Record ID
- TEMP-2026-000
- Scoring
- Within range percent
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- FSMA Sanitary Transportation rule
- Links
- Links Asset, Customer
- Tags
- Fleet, Cold chain, Food
- Sections
- 5
- Fields
- 56
- Follow up fields
- 5
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 5
Header
21 fieldsLog ID*
Auto sequence. Format TMP-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Vehicle*
Asset ID*
Format AST-0000.
Links to FDN-002 Asset ID
Unit Number
The number painted on the door, which is what drivers actually use.
Driver*
Person ID*
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Licence Class
Trip Or Route Reference
Origin
Destination
Odometer Reading
Load Carried
Chilled, frozen, ambient, mixed temperature, dangerous goods or empty.
Customer Or Site
Product Category*
Required Temperature Range*
Setpoint*
Loading
9 fieldsTrailer Pre-Cooled*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Trailer Temperature At Loading*
Product Temperature At Loading*
Probe the product, not the air. Warm product loaded into a cold trailer never recovers in transit.
Product Within Specification At Loading*
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Loading Duration Minutes
Doors Kept Closed During Loading*
- Yes3 pts
- Mostly1 pt
- No0 pts
Air Flow Not Blocked By Load*
Loading to the roof or against the bulkhead blocks return air and creates warm spots.
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- Blocked0 pts
Load Height Below Return Air Line*
- Yes3 pts
- At line1 pt
- Above0 pts
Probe Or Logger Placed In Load*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
In transit readings
Repeats6 fieldsTime*
Air Temperature*
Within Range*
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Unit Running*
- Yes3 pts
- Cycling2 pts
- Off0 pts
Doors Opened Since Last Reading
Note
Delivery
6 fieldsTemperature At Delivery*
Product Temperature At Delivery*
Within Specification At Delivery*
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Customer Checked Temperature*
- Yes3 pts
- No1 pt
Customer Accepted Load*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Rejection Reason
Data
14 fieldsLogger Data Downloaded*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Data Complete For Whole Trip*
- Yes3 pts
- Gaps1 pt
- No0 pts
Any Excursion In Data*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Excursion Record ID
Links to FLT-027 Record ID
Data Retained*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Provided To Customer
- Yes3 pts
- Not requested3 pts
- No0 pts
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Driver*
Signature*
Quality*
Second Signature*
FLT-026 · record IDs look like TEMP-2026-000 · Links Asset, Customer
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The form is the easy part. Catching a gap in the logger data, telling a genuine excursion from a slow drift, and getting the right record raised before the customer disputes the load is what actually slips.
Holds the temperature log against vehicle and refrigeration registers, flags a journey where the logger was never downloaded, and links a found excursion to its own record automatically.
Tracks product rejected or accepted with reservations at delivery, and connects a temperature-related rejection back to the specific journey and reading that caused it.
Keeps the customer and delivery-point context — who is receiving the load, what their acceptance criteria are — so a disputed delivery is checked against the right expectation.
Rolls completion, gaps and excursions across every active journey into one view, chases a log missing its logger download, and holds every write for your approval before it touches a record.
This template lives in KnowFleet — fleet and transport. Drivers, vehicles, hours, cargo securement and operator licence compliance.
Meet KnowFleet→Glossary
Temperature Log definitions and key terms
- Product temperature
- The temperature of the food itself, taken with a probe inserted into the load, as distinct from the air temperature reported by the refrigeration unit's sensor.
- Temperature excursion
- A period during which product moves outside its required temperature range, assessed by duration and product affected rather than a single out-of-range reading.
- Setpoint
- The target temperature the refrigeration unit is instructed to maintain, set before departure to match the product category carried.
- Return air line
- The point in a refrigerated trailer where air is drawn back to be re-cooled; loading product above this line blocks airflow and creates uneven temperatures within the load.
- Logger download
- The complete temperature record extracted from a data logger, as distinct from manual spot readings taken during the journey, and the record that resolves any dispute between the two.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about temperature log
What is the temperature log template based on?+
It is built against the FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule, which sets out sanitary transport practices and record-keeping obligations for food moved by road or rail in the US. Loads into other jurisdictions must also meet local food hygiene and cold chain requirements.
What sections does the temperature log contain?+
There are five sections: Header, Loading, In transit readings, Delivery and Data, holding 56 fields, 39 required. In transit readings repeats for each reading taken.
How often is a temperature log raised?+
One log is raised per journey, from loading through to delivery, rather than a fresh record per reading. Each is given an ID in the form TEMP-2026-000, so an excursion found in the data traces back to this journey.
Which programme does the temperature log belong to?+
It is part of Cold Chain and Transport, alongside the load securement, dangerous goods and excursion templates covering the rest of the journey. The outcome chased is a cold chain with a record for every leg, not just the ones that went wrong.
How is a temperature log scored?+
Scoring is a within-range percentage, high is good, calculated on submission. It measures how much of the journey stayed in specification, not a pass or fail on one reading.
Can the temperature log template be changed?+
Yes. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, including reading frequency in the repeating section and the link to the Excursion Record. Most teams install it as-is, run a cycle, then tighten the interval.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Cold Chain and Transport
Transport Provider Assessment
Assesses a haulier for licensing, driver management, vehicle standards, temperature capability and load security
Load Securement Check
Confirms the load is secured correctly for its type, weight and journey
Weight and Axle Check
Records gross weight and axle loading against legal limits
Dangerous Goods Shipment Record
Records the shipping documents, placarding and segregation for a dangerous goods load
Cold Chain Excursion Record
Records a temperature deviation outside the acceptable range, with duration and product affected
Trailer Sanitation Record
Records cleaning and inspection of a trailer before food loading
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O — Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food
- 21 CFR 1.908 — Vehicles and transportation equipment
- 21 CFR 1.912 — Records
- ATP Agreement — International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs (UNECE, 1970)
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.