Food and beverage
Food supplier traceability
Being able to say within an hour where each batch came from and under which certificates.
In food the question always arrives the same way and always in a hurry: where did this batch come from and what certificates did that supplier hold that day. Answering in an hour rather than two days is the difference between a targeted recall and a general one.
What you must be able to show
| Question | What answers it |
|---|---|
| Who supplied this batch? | The supplier's case, with its date |
| Were they approved that day? | The history, not the current status |
| Which certificates did they hold? | The documents valid on that date |
| When did they expire? | The recorded expiry dates |
Important
The question is always in the past tense. A system that only reports today's status is no use in a recall: you must be able to say what was true on 14 March.
For sector audits
Food certification schemes ask for exactly this: dated documentary evidence that each supplier was approved when they supplied. It is the same thing a recall needs, so it is built once and serves both.
Worth knowing
Marking health certificates with their expiry turns approval from an annual snapshot into a status that is maintained.
›Can it be queried by batch?
If the batch is linked to the supplier's case, yes.
›What about my suppliers' suppliers?
Requested as documentation inside your direct supplier's case.
›How long must it be kept?
Whatever your certification requires; set in the retention policy.
A real case
The situation
A packer receives a health alert about a raw material.
What you do
- Locates the batch's supplier
- Checks which certificates were valid on that day
What you get
Narrows the recall to two batches instead of a month's production.
The situation
A client asks for a batch's origin and it takes two days.
What you do
- Checks the batch's file
What you get
The answer comes out in minutes.
The situation
A supplier's certificate expired and their product is still in stock.
What you do
- Records validity on receiving each certificate
What you get
The warning arrives before the material is used.
The situation
The trace breaks between goods-in and production.
What you do
- Ties the received consignment to the batch produced
What you get
The backward journey is complete.
The situation
Each person keeps their own suppliers' certificates.
What you do
- Gathers everything in one place
What you get
The answer does not depend on who is in.
The situation
Customers who received a batch have to be warned.
What you do
- Checks what went out of that batch and to whom
What you get
Those affected are warned rather than the whole base.
This article answers
- food supplier traceability
- supplier health certificates
- ifs brc audit documentation
- product recall traceability