What Vitsab International does

Vitsab International AB is a privately held Swedish research and development company founded in 1990, headquartered in Limhamn, Sweden, with additional US contact points in Winslow, Maine and Seattle, Washington. The company specializes in designing and manufacturing Freshtag Time Temperature Indicator (TTI) labels — adhesive smart labels approximately the size of a postage stamp that use proprietary "Stoplight Technology" to visually communicate cumulative time-temperature exposure through a green-to-yellow-to-red color change. Formulations are custom-calibrated to mirror bacterial growth curves, align with specific regulatory temperature thresholds, or match user-defined temperature profiles for particular product categories including seafood, caviar, shellfish, airline catering, and home-delivered perishables. The technology is FDA-accepted as a Critical Control Point within HACCP plans for seafood (ROP/MAP) and shellstock applications, and is compliant with EU Regulation 852/2004, Codex Alimentarius HACCP, and ISO 9001 standards.

The product portfolio comprises seven specialized Freshtag variants — Catering, Onboard Catering, Caviar, Flight Label, Home Delivery, L5-8 Seafood, and Shell Safe Shipping — each engineered to a specific cold-chain use case. Vitsab operates as an R&D firm without traditional sales or marketing infrastructure; the company relies on direct customer relationships, industry trade show participation (Seafood Processing North America, IAFP Annual Meeting), earned media coverage in outlets such as Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance, and the marketing efforts of its enterprise customers. Revenue is generated through one-time license/sale of indicator labels, with pricing not publicly disclosed. The company does not have disclosed venture capital or institutional investors and is described as founder-owned and operated, with Jeff Desrosiers serving as President. Notable recognition includes the IAFP Global Food Safety Innovation Award received in July 2023 in Toronto.

Name

Vitsab International

Legal name

Vitsab International AB

Website

https://vitsab.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Vitsab International AB is a Swedish R&D company that develops Freshtag Time Temperature Indicator labels using proprietary Stoplight Technology, serving global enterprise customers in airline catering, seafood, caviar, and e-commerce home delivery cold-chain monitoring.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cold Chain Temperature Monitoring

NAICS

Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

Cold Chain & Temperature Excursion Verification (Loggers, Validation) (AFALAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cold Chain Monitoring, Sensors & Control Towers (IoT, data loggers) (HLAGAMAG), Humidity & dew point monitoring sensors (TLAEALAB)

Keywords

• Time temperature indicators
• Cold chain monitoring
• Food safety labels
• Perishable temperature monitoring
• Smart indicator labels

Headquarters

HQ city

Limhamn

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Freshtag TTI Labels: Sale of time-temperature indicator labels for perishable food monitoring across various applications including catering, seafood, caviar, flight meals, home delivery, and shell safe shipping. Different formulations are engineered for specific products and use cases.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Vitsab International AB designs, engineers, and manufactures Freshtag™ Time Temperature Indicator (TTI) labels — small, postage-stamp-sized color-changing stickers that monitor cumulative time-temperature exposure of perishable food products across the cold chain. Using proprietary Stoplight Technology (green to yellow to red), the labels require no batteries, tools, or technical setup, and are offered in product-specific formulations for catering, airline/cruise/rail catering, caviar, flight meals, home delivery, seafood, and shellstock (oyster) applications, with FDA acceptance as a Critical Control Point within HACCP plans.

Product overview

Vitsab International AB offers the Freshtag line of time-temperature indicator (TTI) smart labels for monitoring perishable food safety throughout the cold chain. The core Freshtag product uses proprietary "Stoplight Technology" that changes color from green (safe) to yellow (warning) to red (temperature abuse detected) based on cumulative time-temperature exposure. The product portfolio includes specialized formulations for different applications: Freshtag Catering for foodservice operations, Freshtag Onboard Catering for airlines/cruise/rail, Freshtag Flight Labels for airline meals, Freshtag Caviar Labels for premium fish products, Freshtag Home Delivery for eCommerce retail, Freshtag L5-8 Seafood Labels for general seafood products, and Freshtag Shell Safe Shipping for shellstock like oysters. All formulations are calibrated to mirror bacteria growth or align with specific regulatory requirements. The company positions these as cost-effective, simple-to-use solutions requiring no batteries, tools, or technical setup.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Freshtag Onboard Catering: Time-temperature monitoring labels specifically designed for airlines, cruise lines, and rail services to monitor onboard perishable food items.
• Freshtag Caviar
• Freshtag Flight Label
• Freshtag Home Delivery
• Freshtag L5-8 Seafood
• Shell Safe Shipping

Products and services

• Freshtag Time Temperature Indicator (TTI) Labels A color-changing smart label that monitors time and temperature for perishable products using proprietary Stoplight Technology that changes from green to yellow to red to indicate cumulative temperature abuse. Labels are approximately the size of a postage stamp and require no batteries, tools, or technical setup, making them suitable for seafood processors, airlines, caterers, and home delivery operators that need FDA-accepted HACCP documentation.
• Freshtag Catering Labels Freshtag labels designed for catering operations that may be used to satisfy World Food Safety Guidelines, Codex Alimentarius HACCP monitoring, ISO9001, FDA food safety code, and EU Regulation 852/2004. Easy to integrate into Food Safety Management Systems and Quality Management Systems for catering companies and foodservice operators.
• Freshtag Onboard Catering Freshtag labels specifically designed for airlines, cruise lines, and rail services to monitor onboard perishable food items. Commonly accepted by food inspectors globally and helps operators meet World Food Safety Guidelines for Airline Catering step 25 (CCP2). Facilitates reduced aircraft weight and enables food donation programs.
• Freshtag Caviar Labels Freshtag labels engineered for caviar monitoring, FDA accepted as a Critical Control Point (CCP) for temperature monitoring within HACCP plans. No additional tools required in harvesting facilities, pack-out locations, or during transportation. Uses exclusive Stoplight Technology universally understood globally.
• Freshtag Flight Labels Vitsab Flight Labels for air-catering operations that are now commonly accepted by food inspectors globally. May be used to satisfy multiple regulatory requirements and facilitate low carbon opportunities by enabling sealed perishable products to be reused or donated at destination cities.
• Freshtag Home Delivery Freshtag labels for eCommerce retail and home delivery of perishable products. FDA accepted as a CCP for temperature monitoring to ensure safe shipments directly to consumers. Builds customer loyalty, improves reorder frequency, and reduces shrink due to replacement orders or refunds.
• Freshtag L5-8 Seafood Labels Freshtag labels specifically formulated for seafood products, FDA accepted as a CCP for temperature monitoring in ROP/MAP packaging. Exclusive formulation mirrors the Skinner & Larkin curve/boundary for accurate seafood safety monitoring.
• Freshtag Shell Safe Shipping Freshtag labels for shellstock monitoring, FDA accepted as a CCP for temperature monitoring in shellstock. Developed with FDA, state regulators, and industry to align with the time/temperature relationship of vibrio species. Shellstock recipients prefer ordering from companies using Freshtag.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 million units sold in first year after FDA acceptance for seafood applications
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Avery Dennison: Avery Dennison is a global leader in pressure-sensitive labels and packaging materials, including RFID and intelligent label technologies for supply chain visibility. Comparable as a label-manufacturing incumbent with adjacent smart/cold chain label offerings, though Vitsab's TTI chemistry is the differentiator.
• Temptime (Zebra Technologies): Temptime, now part of Zebra Technologies, pioneered Time-Temperature Indicators (originally the HEATmarker and LIMITmarker lines) for vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and blood products. Directly comparable to Vitsab/Freshtag as a TTI supplier, but operating at much greater scale across life sciences and food.
• Sensitech (Carrier Global): Sensitech, part of Carrier Global, offers a broad cold chain visibility platform including TempTale temperature data loggers and real-time location solutions for food, pharma, and floral. Comparable on the food/pharma cold chain monitoring mission but with a much broader software and IoT portfolio.
• Elpro (Bosch): ELPRO (now part of Bosch) supplies temperature and humidity monitoring devices, data loggers, and cloud-based monitoring systems for pharma and life sciences. Comparable in cold chain monitoring for perishable and temperature-sensitive shipments, with a heavier electronics and software stack.

Direct peers

• Cryopak: Cryopak specializes in temperature-controlled packaging, gel packs, and phase change materials, plus cold chain monitoring products for food and life sciences. Comparable as a cold chain solutions provider, with broader packaging offerings alongside temperature monitoring.
• Berlinger: Swiss provider of temperature monitoring solutions including Fridge-tag electronic indicators and data loggers used across pharma cold chain and food. Comparable to Vitsab in cold chain monitoring mission and customer base, though Berlinger leans more electronic/digital.
• Timestrip: Timestrip manufactures single-use time and temperature indicator labels for food, pharmaceutical, and logistics applications. Closest pure-play peer to Freshtag in product format and target use cases (cold chain, food safety, pharma).
• LogTag Recorders: LogTag manufactures electronic temperature data loggers and indicators used in food, pharma, and healthcare cold chains. Comparable customer base and use cases to Vitsab, though focused on reusable/electronic loggers rather than passive color-changing labels.

Emerging players

• SpotSee / SpotBot: SpotSee offers impact, tilt, temperature, and humidity indicators including chemical-based and connected monitoring solutions for cold chain and logistics. Comparable to Vitsab in offering temperature-excursion indicators, with growing emphasis on connected/IoT formats.
• Pace Scientific: Pace Scientific manufactures temperature data loggers and indicators used in cold chain monitoring for food, pharma, and industrial applications. Comparable in temperature monitoring mission but smaller and more niche than Vitsab's regulatory footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/VitsabFreshtag
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@vitsabinternationalab9644
• Facebookfacebook.com/FreshtagTM
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vitsab-int.-ab
• Instagraminstagram.com/freshtagtm

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vitsab International