Batch and expiry tracking for food and beverage businesses is the process of assigning unique lot numbers to product groups and recording their expiration dates so every item can be traced from production through delivery.
To implement it, you'll need a system that captures batch data at intake, links it through production, and flags items before they expire or leave the facility.
Here's the step-by-step process.
What is a food expiry tracking system?
A food expiry tracking system is software (or a documented process) that monitors the shelf life and best-by dates of every product and ingredient in your inventory. Instead of manually checking labels or scanning spreadsheets, the system alerts you when items are approaching expiration so you can act before products go to waste.
A good expiry tracking system does three things:
Records expiration dates at receiving — every incoming batch of raw materials or finished goods gets a date attached.
Automates FEFO rotation — the system ensures first-expired items ship first (more on this below).
Sends alerts before expiration — you get advance notice days or weeks before a product expires, giving your team time to discount, rework, or redistribute.
Without a system like this, expiration date management turns into a reactive scramble. You discover expired inventory during a physical count, or worse, after it's already shipped to a customer.
How batch tracking helps you manage recalls
In October 2019, Nestlé announced some not-so-sweet news. The company recalled several ready-to-bake Toll House Cookie Dough products "due to the presence of rubber pieces," according to a company press release. The recall was limited to products with batch codes beginning with 9189 through 9295.
Nestlé's ability to pinpoint the contaminated batches allowed them to alert customers immediately and limit the scope of the recall. That's the power of batch tracking.
Recording batch or lot numbers on your sales orders lets you trace exactly where your products ended up. In the event of a recall, you know which customers received the affected items and can contact them directly.
The most effective way to handle a recall is speed. An order management system with batch tracking lets you take a proactive approach:
Identify affected batches instantly — no digging through paper records.
Check if the batch was used in production — if a contaminated ingredient went into a finished product, you'll know before it ships.
Trace forward to customers — if you sell B2C, you can see exactly which customer bought the affected batch and notify them.
A quick, targeted recall protects your customers and your brand. A slow, broad recall costs you far more in product, labor, and reputation.
How to do batch tracking
If you're setting up batch tracking for the first time, here's a step-by-step process:
Define your batch numbering system — decide on a consistent format. Many manufacturers use a combination of production date, line number, and a sequential counter (for example, 20250115-L2-001).
Assign batch numbers at production — every production run gets a unique batch number. If you're receiving raw materials, record the supplier's lot number too.
Record batches on all inventory transactions — when you receive, move, produce, or ship inventory, the batch number should follow the item.
Link batches to sales orders — this is what enables forward traceability. When an order ships, the batch number is tied to the customer.
Store batch records for the required retention period— FDA regulations typically require food manufacturers to retain records for one to two years, depending on the product's shelf life.
Run test recalls regularly — practice tracing a batch from raw material to customer (and back) to make sure your system works before you need it.
Many growing manufacturers start with spreadsheets, but the process breaks down quickly as you add SKUs, production lines, and sales channels. That's when dedicated inventory management software becomes necessary.
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FEFO stands for First Expired, First Out. It's an inventory rotation method that ensures the items closest to expiration are picked and shipped first.
FEFO is different from FIFO (First In, First Out). FIFO assumes the oldest stock should leave first, but that's based on when it arrived — not when it expires. A batch that arrived last week could have a shorter shelf life than one that arrived a month ago. FEFO catches this.
| Method | Picks based on | Best for | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIFO | Receipt date | Non-perishable goods | May miss items expiring sooner |
| FEFO | Expiration date | Perishable goods | Requires expiry date tracking |
| LIFO | Most recent receipt | Tax strategy (rarely used in F&B) | Oldest stock may expire |
For food and beverage businesses, FEFO is the standard. It directly reduces waste by making sure nothing sits in your warehouse past its best-by date while newer stock ships out.
To implement FEFO, you need expiry dates recorded on every batch at receiving. Your warehouse team (or your software) then sorts pick lists by expiration date rather than receipt date.
Expiry date tracking: knowing when to clear your inventory
You've probably seen clearance racks for food products where items are sold at a massive discount — sometimes over 50%. At that point the seller is probably selling below their COGS just to recoup something before the entire batch goes to waste.
This happens when expiry dates sneak up on you. If you can track expiry dates and get alerted weeks in advance, you make better decisions much earlier.
Having inventory tracking software provides the transparency your sales and marketing teams need. Instead of offering drastic discounts on a massive quantity of expiring products, you can start offering smaller discounts and product bundles earlier — while there's still enough shelf life for your customers to use the product.
Here's a practical approach to managing expiring inventory:
Set alert thresholds — for example, get notified 60, 30, and 14 days before expiration.
Create a discount ladder — small discount at 60 days, bigger discount at 30 days, clearance at 14 days.
Communicate clearly with customers — if you're selling discounted items nearing expiry, make it obvious. Add notes to your sales orders and signage on your eCommerce store that the sale is final.
Track the financial impact — know how much revenue you're losing to markdowns so you can improve purchasing and production planning over time.
When customers don't know they're buying a short-dated product, you'll face returns and bad reviews. Transparency avoids that.
Compliance and food traceability regulations
The FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires food manufacturers to maintain records that allow forward and backward traceability. Section 204 of FSMA, the Food Traceability Rule, established a list of high-risk foods that require additional traceability records — called Key Data Elements (KDEs) — at every Critical Tracking Event (CTE) in the supply chain.
For growing food and beverage manufacturers, compliance means you need to:
Record supplier lot numbers on all incoming materials.
Link raw material lots to finished product batches through your production records.
Maintain forward traceability — you can trace from any ingredient lot to every customer who received a finished product containing it.
Maintain backward traceability — starting from a customer complaint or finished product batch, you can trace back to every ingredient and supplier involved.
Produce records within 24 hours if the FDA requests them during an investigation.
Manual spreadsheet tracking can technically meet these requirements, but it falls apart under pressure. When the FDA asks for records, you don't want to spend hours searching through Excel files. A dedicated lot tracking system produces a complete audit trail in seconds.
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What to look for in batch and expiry tracking software
If you're evaluating food inventory management software for tracking perishable goods and expiration dates, here are the features that matter most:
| Feature | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Batch/lot number assignment | Unique IDs for every production run enable recall traceability |
| Expiry date recording | Attach best-by or use-by dates to every batch at receiving or production |
| FEFO picking logic | Ensures shortest-dated items ship first |
| Expiry alerts | Advance notifications before items expire |
| Forward and backward traceability | Trace from ingredient to customer (and back) for recalls and audits |
| Integration with sales orders | Batch numbers travel with the order so you know which customer got what |
| Multi-level BOM traceability | If a raw material is contaminated, you can trace it through every finished product it touched |
Avoid software that only tracks lot numbers without connecting them to your sales orders and production records. The whole point is end-to-end traceability — from supplier to customer.
Also consider how long implementation takes. Enterprise systems can take months. Solutions built for growing manufacturers often go live in weeks, which matters when compliance deadlines are approaching.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What is the food expiry tracking system?
A food expiry tracking system records and monitors the shelf life and best-by dates of every product and ingredient in your inventory. It alerts you when items approach expiration so you can sell, discount, or remove them before they go to waste. Most systems also support FEFO (First Expired, First Out) picking to reduce spoilage.
How do you do batch tracking?
You assign a unique batch or lot number to every production run, then record that number on all inventory transactions — receiving, production, transfers, and sales orders. This creates a chain of traceability from raw materials to the end customer. You can do it manually with spreadsheets, but dedicated software automates the process and makes recalls much faster.
Can you find the expiry date by batch number?
Yes, if expiry dates are recorded alongside batch numbers in your system. Many manufacturers encode the production date in the batch number itself (for example, 20250115 for January 15, 2025), and the expiry date is calculated by adding the product's known shelf life. With tracking software, you can look up any batch number and see its expiry date instantly.
What is the best way to keep track of expiration dates?
The best approach is to record expiry dates at the point of receiving or production, then use FEFO logic to ensure the shortest-dated items are always picked first. Set automated alerts at multiple intervals before expiration (for example, 60, 30, and 14 days out). Inventory management software handles this automatically and eliminates the manual effort of checking dates on shelves or in spreadsheets.
How Brahmin Solutions handles batch and expiry tracking
In Brahmin, every ingredient batch gets a lot number at receiving with its expiry date recorded in the system. When it's time to pick materials for production, the system enforces FEFO (first-expired, first-out) rotation automatically — your team picks the batch closest to expiry first, not whichever one is easiest to reach.
Expiry alerts trigger before products reach their sell-by date, so you're not discovering expired inventory during a cycle count. When an FDA auditor or a retail buyer asks for traceability records, Brahmin generates a forward or backward trace report in seconds.
If you're a food or beverage manufacturer and need lot traceability, expiry management, and FEFO built into your daily workflow, book a demo and see how it works with your products.
About the author
Brahm Meka is Founder & CEO at Brahmin Solutions.
