Abstract: An induction heating system including a container for storing a substance; a heating element in thermal contact with the substance; a machine readable tag in thermal contact with the substance, the tag having a machine readable temperature-dependant characteristic; an interrogator for reading the temperature-dependant characteristic of the tag and for determining the current temperature of the substance; an induction heater for generating an AC magnetic field to heat the heating element; and a heater controller for controlling operation of the induction heater, in response to the substance temperature determined by the interrogator, to heat the substance.