Traceability requirements are the obligations under Article 18 of the General Food Law that compel food business operators to identify their immediate suppliers and immediate customers, enabling rapid trace-back and trace-forward during food safety incidents.
In trade practice
In practice, operators must be able to link each incoming raw material batch to the supplier’s delivery documentation and each outgoing batch to the customer and despatch record, on request from a competent authority. Batch coding on packaging, goods-in registers and despatch logs are the core tools. A common gap found during audits is the inability to link a finished-product batch back to the specific raw material lot used, particularly where multiple origins are blended. Private certification schemes such as BRCGS and IFS Food require traceability exercises to be completed within defined time targets as part of audit preparation.
In a specification
Specifications and supplier approval requirements typically state that the supplier must maintain batch-level traceability records for a defined retention period and demonstrate a full trace in a mock exercise on request.