SupplyChainBrain Think Tank; SCB contributor Eric Allais; imagine walking into your local grocery store — only to discover that deli meat is unavailable — or pulling up to your favorite fast-food drive-thru — only to hear that your desired burger is no longer on the menu — situations that highlight the real-world impact of product recalls (recall). Such scenarios not only disrupt our daily lives — they also damage the reputation of the businesses involved — underscoring the importance of recall management. This is why any warehouse or distribution center (DC) manager must stay on top of the products they sell — as a daily necessity. Whether industrial adhesives, food, building materials, airplane parts, or medical supplies — these products fall under strict regulation. For any manager, this represents a significant responsibility. Recent product recalls underscore the importance of comprehensive inventory and logistics records — with many details to track — including expiration date, product ingredients, manufacturer or supplier, and production date.
From a supply chain perspective, lot tracking (also called batch tracking or serial number tracking) is the process of identifying products by their production batch, supplier, and movement date. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are the primary U.S. food regulators. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Section 204 (Food Traceability Rule) takes effect on January 20, 2026 — for Food Traceability List (FTL) products — creating a requirement to maintain records of Critical Tracking Events (CTE) and Key Data Elements (KDE) across the supply chain. The USDA enforces lot traceability requirements for meat, poultry, and egg products — under the Bioterrorism Act (2002) and the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. The EU applies the "one step back; one step forward" principle for food traceability under Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.
From a supply chain perspective, industries requiring lot tracking include food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, medical devices, cosmetics, automotive (especially safety-critical components), aerospace, defense, electronics, chemicals, building materials, agricultural inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, seeds), and metals/mining. Key U.S. recall categories include FDA Class I/II/III recall, USDA Class I/II/III recall, NHTSA recall (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), FAA Airworthiness Directive, and CPSC recall (Consumer Product Safety Commission). Primary traceability standards include GS1 Global Traceability Standard (GTS), GS1 Digital Link, EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services), GS1 SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code), GS1 GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), and GS1 GLN (Global Location Number). The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), the 2013 U.S. pharmaceutical traceability law, creates a requirement for lot traceability with serialized SNI (Serialized Numerical Identifier).
From a supply chain perspective, lot tracking technologies include WMS (Warehouse Management System), ERP, QMS (Quality Management System), LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System), MES (Manufacturing Execution System), blockchain-based traceability (IBM Food Trust, VeChain, FoodLogiQ — Trustwell, ripe.io, Provenance), RFID, 2D Data Matrix (GS1 DataMatrix), QR code, and 1D barcode. Primary ERP platforms supporting lot traceability include SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Fusion ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Infor CloudSuite, NetSuite, Epicor, Plex Systems, QAD, and SYSPRO. Leading WMS platforms include Manhattan Active, Blue Yonder Luminate, Körber WMS, Tecsys, HighJump, Synapse, Logiwa, Mecalux Easy WMS, PathGuide Latitude, 3PL Central, and FishBowl. As Eric Allais emphasizes, lot tracking is a fundamental infrastructure layer of modern supply chains — essential for reducing recall costs, ensuring consumer safety, achieving regulatory compliance, and protecting brand reputation.
Key Takeaways:
1. Eric Allais (SCB) emphasizes that lot tracking is a vital component of recall management.
2. FDA FSMA Section 204 takes effect on January 20, 2026.
3. Expiration date, product ingredients, manufacturer, and production date are key elements to track.
4. GS1 GTIN, GS1 SSCC, and EPCIS are primary traceability standards.
5. WMS, ERP, blockchain, RFID, and 2D Data Matrix are key lot tracking technologies.
