--- id: KB-AL-006 url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/food-and-beverage/canned-and-processed-food idioma: en categoria: sector-alimentacion subcategoria: conservas audiencia: usuario nivel: intermedio actualizado: 2026-08-13 tambienEn: [es] relacionados: [KB-CS-007, KB-AL-004] citadoPor: [KB-AL-007, KB-AL-008, KB-AL-009, KB-AL-011, KB-AL-026] --- # Canned and processed food _Many ingredients, many suppliers, and a batch you must be able to trace backwards._ **Responde a:** ingredient traceability in canned food · processed food recall · food raw material supplier documentation · ifs brc audit paperwork A processed product has a problem fresh fruit does not: each batch is the sum of several ingredients, from several suppliers, with different dates. And when a recall comes, the question is not where the product came from, but which batches contain that particular ingredient. ## The two directions of traceability | Direction | The question | How long it can take | | --- | --- | --- | | Backwards | What is in this batch and from whom? | Minutes if linked; days if it lives in delivery notes | | Forwards | Which customers received this ingredient? | It decides the size of a recall | > [!IMPORTANT] > The second is what costs money. If you cannot narrow which finished batches a suspect ingredient went into, you must recall everything that might contain it — and the gap between narrowing and not narrowing is usually orders of magnitude. ## What to have before you need it 1. **A live file for each ingredient supplier** — Certifications, analyses, allergens and their document expiry dates. 2. **Each intake, linked to its documentation** — The delivery note and batch certificate arrive with the goods, not a month later. 3. **The production batch, with its ingredients inside** — That link is what lets you answer in both directions. 4. **And dispatches, with destinations** — Without this, forward traceability does not exist. > [!WARNING] > The most neglected point is the second: raw-material batch paperwork arrives by email to purchasing and stays there. In a crisis, that paperwork has to be where the batch is, not in a personal inbox. ## Customer audits Large chains audit own-brand suppliers with lists that repeat a lot: current certifications, allergen control, incident management, and a traceability exercise on a batch they pick on the spot. The last one is the only one you cannot prepare the night before. **En corto** - If the traceability drill takes minutes, the audit stops being frightening. - If it takes hours, you now know what to fix. - And running it twice a year costs less than failing it once. > [!NOTE] > All of this sits alongside what you already do for labelling and packaging: documents with expiry dates and an owner, the same mechanics as any supplier. **Is it needed for small production?** The obligation does not depend on size; the effort does. **What about ingredients bought from a distributor?** Ask the same: the distributor must be able to give you batch origin. **How long is it kept?** Longer than the product's shelf life, with margin. ## Ejemplos **A cannery receives an alert about a raw material batch.** - Checks which finished batches contain it and which customers received them → Recalls two specific batches instead of a month of production. **A batch carries fifteen ingredients from twelve suppliers.** - Ties each ingredient to the output batch → The backward journey is complete. **A supplier changes an ingredient's formulation.** - Reviews which references contain it → The change propagates to the affected labels. **A problem must be contained and nobody knows which batches carry it.** - Checks which production runs used that consignment → Scope narrows to what is actually affected. **Ingredient certificates are filed by supplier.** - Also files them against the consignment received → You answer per consignment rather than per supplier. **A client asks for a product sheet from a year ago.** - Keeps each version with its date → You provide the one that covered that sale.