Forward and backward traceability

Name: Forward and backward traceability
Uploaded: 2026-10-17
Description: Find out where a lot went and which lots a product came from, and export the result to Excel or PDF for the inspection.

Integral plan

Find out where a lot went and which lots a product came from, and export the result to Excel or PDF for the inspection.

What it is for

Food law requires you to be able to follow each lot one step back (who you received it from) and one step forward (who you gave it to). In practice, the questions come in two forms: “this flour lot has a problem, where is it?” and “this customer is complaining about this cake, what was in it?”.

Recipok answers both with the data you already record: goods-in, production orders and dispatches. This article explains which screen to use in each case and how to export the result to Excel or PDF.

It is used by the quality manager and the supervisor, especially when there is an alert, a complaint or an inspection.

Before you start

Included in the Integral plan.
Traceability is only as complete as your records: goods-in with a lot, production orders that deduct lots and dispatches with a lot. We explain it in How lot traceability works.

Forward traceability: where did this lot go?

Use Stock management › Lot movements.

Look up the lot

Type the Lot number in the filters: the supplier’s one, if it is a raw material, or the one from your production order, if it is your own product. You can narrow it down by Preparation and by date (Last 7 days, Last month, Last year or a range).

Read the movements

The Production consumption movements tell you which production orders that lot went into; each production order has the lot of the product that came out. Exit movements carry the identification of the sales delivery note. Click a row to see the details.

Follow the chain

If the lot was used in a semi-finished product (the biscuit base), repeat the search with that semi-finished product’s lot to get to the cake and its customer.

Backward traceability: what was it made with?

Use Stock management › Reverse traceability. It is the Raw Material Movements - Outputs list: everything that has left the raw materials store, mainly what production orders have used.

Stock management › Reverse traceability

1Ingredient lot: L24-0912Origin: Production orders only ▾2Print

Date	Identification	Content	User
30/09/2026	PP-000014 · Cheesecake	Cream cheese L24-0912 · 6 kg Biscuit base BG-260930-000013 · 3.2 kg Cream 35% N2609-A · 2.4 l	Lucía
01/10/2026	PP-000015 · Individual cheesecake	Cream cheese L24-0912 · 4 kg Sugar 260915 · 0.8 kg	Lucía

The production orders that used cream cheese lot L24-0912, with everything each one contained.

1Filter by ingredient lot to see which production orders it went into, or search by the production order’s identification to see all its ingredients and lots.
2Print downloads the list as an Excel file.

Start from the product’s lot

With the lot on the label (for example, the cheesecake’s), find its production order: it appears in Lot movements as a Production entry.

See what it used

In Reverse traceability, search for that production order by its identification and, in the Origin filter, choose Production orders only. Under Content you see each ingredient with its lot and quantity. You also have it in the production order’s production report.

Get back to the supplier

With each ingredient’s lot, Lot movements shows its Supplier entry: the delivery note, the supplier and the date it arrived.

Export for the inspection

Screen	Export
Lot movements	PDF and Excel buttons: they export exactly what you have filtered. The PDF is the one you hand to the inspector.
Reverse traceability	Print: the list as an Excel file.
Traceability drill	Download report: a PDF with both directions and the lot balance.

Food safety · when there is an alert

If a supplier warns you about a faulty lot: look up its lot, find the affected production orders and customers, notify those customers and withdraw any remaining stock with an adjustment using the reason Deteriorated. Then record a drill as evidence of what you did.

Tips

The traceability drill does this whole journey in one go and lists the customers. Use these screens when you need the movement-by-movement detail.
A customer return is recorded with its reason and stays in the lot’s movements. See Dispatches and delivery notes.
Practise with a real lot before anyone asks you to: if you find gaps, you will know which record is missing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between forward and backward traceability?

Forward (or downstream) traceability follows a lot to wherever it went: which products were made with it and which customers they reached. Backward (or upstream) traceability starts from a product and looks for its origin: which raw material lots it contains and which supplier they came from.

A supplier warns me about a faulty lot. Where do I start?

With forward traceability: look up the supplier’s lot and see which production orders used it and which sales delivery notes carry those products. The traceability drill gives you all of it on one sheet, with the list of customers.

What do I show the inspector?

The Lot movements list for the lot they ask for, exported to PDF, and the production report for the production order. If you have run the drill, its PDF report summarises both directions.

I search for a lot and nothing comes up. What do I do?

Check that you are typing it exactly as on the label (or scan it). If it still doesn’t appear, that lot was not recorded: the goods-in is missing, the production order didn’t deduct lots or the dispatch was made without a lot.