Australian supermarket chain Coles is using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to digitize and make traceable its entire poultry cold chain. The goal of the technology is to reinforce food safety standards, while saving time and minimizing waste.

Coles Group’s solution involves 4,500 smart food bins used to transport poultry provided by Loscam, and connectivity over a low-bandwidth 0G network provided by Thinxtra. The IoT system provides data for every individual smart food bins containing food, not only the transportation vehicles.

The smart food bins ensure that Coles can track its poultry from the moment the birds are loaded by suppliers at farms, through to the time they reach Coles’ distribution center.

Food bin locations, temperatures, and statuses can also be tracked in real time, and the technology keeps users aware of atypical events, such as when bins are handled improperly, or when food bins are not in the correct location. Additionally, the solution enables Coles to optimize transport routes and equipment pooling based on usage trends.