Lot tracking is keeping a record of which production run each unit of your product came from, what went into that run, and who received it. A lot (also called a batch) is everything you made in one go, from one set of ingredients, and it gets one code. The code goes on the package, the ingredient lots go on the batch sheet, and the lot goes on the invoice. That's the whole of it. What follows is what those words mean in practice, an example played forward, and where the law comes in.
The short version
- A lot is one production run. It gets a code, and the code goes on every unit and every case.
- Lot tracking is three records: what went into the lot, what the lot became, and who got it.
- The point is a recall, or a complaint, that stays small. One lot, not everything you've ever made.
- It doesn't need software. It needs the three records, kept every time.
- Buyers, auditors and some rules ask for it by name. The wording differs. The records don't.
What a lot is
FDA's rule for food facilities defines a lot as "the food produced during a period of time and identified by an
establishment's specific code" (21 CFR 117.3). Two parts of
that sentence do all the work. A period of time: you decide how long, and shorter is safer, because a smaller
lot means a smaller recall. A specific code: something written on the product that says which period it was.
For most small producers, one kettle, one bake, one roast or one mixing session on one day is a lot, and the code
is the date plus a letter, like 260923A. Picking a format is a short article of its own:
how to create lot numbers.
"Batch" means the same thing in a small business. Bigger manufacturers sometimes split the two (the batch is what was mixed, the lot is what was packed), and a customer's form may ask for both. Batch number vs lot number sorts that out.
The three records
Lot tracking is the code plus three records. Miss one and you have a code on a jar with nothing behind it.
Backward, what went in: for each lot you make, the lot number of every ingredient and every piece of packaging that went into it. The supplier prints theirs on the case. If there isn't one, you give the delivery your own code at the door. This lives on a batch sheet, and what is a batch record has one filled in.
Inward, what the lot became: how many units came out, what code they carry, and where they are now. Your shelf, the shop, the co-packer's cold room.
Forward, who got it: the lot written on every invoice, packing slip or market-day tally. "Twelve cases, lot
260923A, to the co-op on the 25th."
An example, played forward
Windward Roots (the sample business inside the TaroStack app, so you can poke around in it later) makes kūlolo in
a commissary kitchen in Kāneʻohe. On Tuesday, Ana Reyes records a batch: lot KUL-260922A, 120 trays. Her batch
sheet lists the taro paste lot (PASTE-2026-09-21, made in the same kitchen on Monday), the coconut milk lot
(CM-44017, the supplier's number, copied off the case) and the sugar lot. Over the week the trays go out: 55 to
the Kailua shop, 40 to the Ward Village shop, 25 on Thursday's order to a restaurant group, each with the lot on
the delivery note. On Wednesday she makes a second batch, KUL-260923A, 96 trays, from the same milk.
Three weeks later the coconut milk supplier emails. Lot CM-44017 is being recalled. Here's what the three
records give you, in order.
- Backward: which of our lots used
CM-44017? The batch sheets say two, Tuesday's and Wednesday's kūlolo. - Inward: 120 trays and 96 trays. What's still here? Thirty-six of Wednesday's, in the kitchen walk-in. None of Tuesday's.
- Forward: who got the rest? Two shops and one restaurant group. Three phone calls, a note on two counters, and the kūlolo made on Thursday from a different milk lot stays on sale.
Without the records the honest answer is "we're not sure which ones", and then everything comes off the shelf, including the Thursday batch that was fine. That gap is the whole reason buyers ask about lot tracking. If you'd like to see the exercise timed and written up the way an auditor wants it, there's a mock recall worked through with numbers.
Lot tracking, traceability and serial numbers
People search "lot tracking and traceability" as one phrase, and the two are related but not the same word. Traceability is the ability to follow a food forward and back through the supply chain. Lot tracking is how a producer gets it: the lot is the unit that gets traced. FDA's Food Traceability Rule calls the code a "traceability lot code", which it defines as "a descriptor, often alphanumeric, used to uniquely identify a traceability lot within the records of the traceability lot code source" (21 CFR 1.1310). That's a long way of saying the code on the case. There's more in how food traceability works.
Serial numbers are different: one number per unit rather than per batch. Nobody puts serial numbers on jam.
"Lot tracking in manufacturing" is the same idea at a bigger scale. A lot might be a shift's output, ingredients are called materials, and the batch sheet is a screen instead of a page. The three records are identical.
Is it required?
For most small food producers there's no rule that says "you must track lots" in those words. What exists are rules and customers that assume you do.
- If you make acidified foods, which covers a lot of shelf-stable pickles, salsas and sauces, each container must carry a code identifying the establishment, the product, and the day and period it was packed (21 CFR 114.80(b)).
- Foods on FDA's Food Traceability List (soft cheeses, shell eggs, nut butters, leafy greens, fresh-cut produce and others, and foods containing them in that form) will need traceability lot codes and records. FDA has proposed moving that rule's compliance date to July 20, 2028, and Congress directed it not to enforce the rule before then; FDA says it will comply. Who's exempt is its own question.
- Buyers. Distributors and grocery chains ask for lot codes on units and cases before they'll list you, along with a written recall plan. That's a contract, not a law, and it usually arrives first. What buyers mean by lot tracking has their actual wording.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your inspector, your process authority or the buyer's packet has the last word.
Where this stops working
The system fails at the records, not at the code. The lot column on the invoice gets skipped on a busy Friday.
The batch sheet gets filled in at the end of the day from memory, and the second bag of sugar's lot isn't on it.
And searching: "which lots used CM-44017?" in a binder covering six months is an afternoon. In a spreadsheet
it's a filter, provided somebody typed every lot in.
A lot tracking spreadsheet gets you the filter. The forward record is the
one that goes missing first, because it happens at the packing table, with somebody else's hands.
How TaroStack does it
In TaroStack the three records are side effects of work you're already doing. Receiving a delivery records the
supplier's lot, or gives it your own code. Recording a batch takes ingredients from the lots that expire first
and writes down which lots it used, so the backward record exists without anybody typing it. The finished batch
gets its lot code, and you can print lot labels with GS1-128 barcodes for the cases. When product ships, the lot
goes on the order. So "who got KUL-260922A?" is one report: the ingredient lots behind it, the customers in
front of it, what's still on your own shelves, and who to call. Timed, logged traceability drills give you the
date and the minutes for a buyer's form. Lots, expiry and recalls are part of every plan, from $49 a month.
Recording batches against recipes is part of Standard.