Food manufacturing traceability and recall records

Know what was received and where it went

Food Standards Australia New Zealand advises businesses to maintain traceability information about suppliers, ingredients, packaging and the movement of food through the supply chain. Specific requirements depend on the type of food and business activity.

SupplySpec helps organise relationships between supplier, product, material and lot records for investigation. Actual production, receipt and dispatch data must still be complete, correct and reconciled with operational systems.

A recall plan still needs people and process

FSANZ states that food manufacturers, wholesale suppliers and importers must maintain a written recall plan under Standard 3.2.2. A plan requires responsibilities, customer information, notifications, retrieval arrangements and testing.

SupplySpec can make supporting evidence easier to retrieve but does not replace a tested plan, regulator engagement or the operational records used to decide a recall.

• Ingredient and packaging source records
• Associated lots and finished products
• Supporting specifications and quality incidents
• Investigation and impact analysis

Improve the review chain

Technical, production and quality teams benefit from seeing which supplier and specification were applicable when an issue arose. A connected record provides context that a single lot list may not capture.