A measuring system for automatically determining and/or monitoring the quality of a liquid or viscous foodstuff, and comprising - a housing with an interior space for at least one product container for such a foodstuff, - a product container with a product space for the foodstuff, and with a lid provided with a probe with a thermometer which projects into the product space, - a heating and cooling device (7 - 16) for cooling and/or heating the interior space, - a sensor device (25, 29, 32) for determining a quality-related parameter value of said foodstuff, not being the temperature, and - a control unit which is operatively connected to the heating and cooling device, the thermometer, and the sensor device, and is configured to: - control the measuring system, - repeatedly measure the parameter value by means of the sensor device, - store, process and/or export the measured parameter values, and - control the heating and/or the cooling system according to a desired time-temperature program for the interior space, wherein the cooling system comprises a separate refrigerant circuit (7 - 10), characterised in that the cooling system further comprises a cold buffer (11, 12), and a cooler (13 - 16) for the cold buffer, wherein the cold buffer comprises a buffer holder with a phase-transition material, wherein the refrigerant circuit comprises a closed-circuit line (7, 10) which is filled with a liquid refrigerant and is in heat-exchanging contact with the interior space and with the cold buffer, as well as a pump for pumping the refrigerant around, wherein, in order to cool down the container, the control unit is configured to control the pump in order to make the refrigerant flow past the buffer holder and subsequently past or through the interior space with the product container. - a housing with an interior space for at least one product container for such a foodstuff, - a product container with a product space for the foodstuff, and with a lid provided with a probe with a thermometer which projects into the product space, - a heating and cooling device (7 - 16) for cooling and/or heating the interior space, - a sensor device (25, 29, 32) for determining a quality-related parameter value of said foodstuff, not being the temperature, and - a control unit which is operatively connected to the heating and cooling device, the thermometer, and the sensor device, and is configured to: - control the measuring system, - repeatedly measure the parameter value by means of the sensor device, - store, process and/or export the measured parameter values, and - control the heating and/or the cooling system according to a desired time-temperature program for the interior space, wherein the cooling system comprises a separate refrigerant circuit (7 - 10), characterised in that the cooling system further comprises a cold buffer (11, 12), and a cooler (13 - 16) for the cold buffer, wherein the cold buffer comprises a buffer holder with a phase-transition material, wherein the refrigerant circuit comprises a closed-circuit line (7, 10) which is filled with a liquid refrigerant and is in heat-exchanging contact with the interior space and with the cold buffer, as well as a pump for pumping the refrigerant around, wherein, in order to cool down the container, the control unit is configured to control the pump in order to make the refrigerant flow past the buffer holder and subsequently past or through the interior space with the product container.