Skip to main content
Expired ingredients are one of the most predictable and preventable sources of waste in food manufacturing. When a team is picking stock from a shared shelf without clear lot-level visibility, newer lots get grabbed first, older lots quietly approach their expiry dates, and eventually something gets written off — or worse, used in production by mistake. First Expired, First Out (FEFO) is the industry standard for preventing this, and Batchlane builds FEFO logic into the day-to-day operational flow so it happens automatically rather than relying on someone to remember the rule.

​
The FEFO dashboard

The FEFO dashboard gives your operations team a real-time view of expiry exposure across your entire inventory. Open it from Inventory → Expiry & FEFO to see:
  • Lots expiring in 7 days — the most urgent window, highlighted in red
  • Lots expiring in 14 days — amber warning zone
  • Lots expiring in 30 days — upcoming exposure to plan around
  • Total value at risk — dollar value of inventory within each expiry window
  • Shortage pressure — ingredients where the non-expired quantity is insufficient to cover upcoming scheduled runs
Use this view in your weekly production planning meeting to sequence runs around aging ingredients before the expiry window closes.
FEFO planning, the expiry dashboard, and shortage pressure checks are available on the Growth and Pro plans. The Free plan includes basic expiry date visibility in the inventory ledger, but the full FEFO planning dashboard is not included.

​
FEFO lot suggestions in production

When you create a new batch run, Batchlane automatically applies FEFO logic to every ingredient in the recipe. You never need to manually sort through lots to figure out which one to use first.
1

Create a new batch run from a recipe

Go to Production → New Run, select your recipe, enter the batch size, and open the run. Batchlane pulls in all required ingredients from the recipe.
2

Review the lot suggestions for each ingredient

For each ingredient, Batchlane lists all available, non-expired lots sorted by expiry date ascending — earliest expiry at the top of the list.
3

Confirm the auto-selected lot

The first lot in the list (earliest expiry) is pre-selected. If the quantity is sufficient, confirm it and move on.
4

Override if needed

To select a different lot, choose it from the dropdown and confirm the reason for the override. The override reason is recorded in the batch record alongside the lot selection.
This process ensures warehouse workers get a clear instruction — pick lot JAL-0604-B, not just “some jalapeño” — and that your production history accurately reflects which lots were consumed.

​
Expiry alert types

A lot is flagged as Expiring Soon when its expiry date falls within your configured warning threshold. The default is 14 days, but you can adjust this in Settings → Expiry Alerts to match the typical shelf life of your ingredients. Expiring Soon lots appear with an amber indicator in the inventory ledger and are prioritized in FEFO suggestions.
A lot is flagged as Expired when today’s date has passed the lot’s expiry date. Expired lots are grayed out in the inventory ledger and are automatically excluded from FEFO suggestions and batch run lot selection. An operator cannot select an expired lot for production without an explicit admin override, which is logged in the batch record. This prevents accidental use of expired ingredients without creating an unbreakable block for edge cases where your QA team has made a disposition decision.
A lot is flagged with Shortage + Expiry Pressure when the available quantity of non-expired stock is insufficient to cover a scheduled production run, but there is additional stock in an expiring lot that would otherwise be wasted. This alert helps your operations team see situations where a run should be prioritized or adjusted to consume the at-risk inventory before it expires.

​
Value at risk

For managers and owners, the FEFO dashboard includes a value-at-risk summary that shows the total dollar value of inventory expiring within each time window. This makes expiry a financial metric, not just an operational one. Use it to:
  • Justify production schedule changes to leadership based on dollar exposure
  • Identify ingredient categories with chronic expiry problems that signal over-ordering
  • Track whether FEFO improvements are reducing written-off inventory over time
The value-at-risk calculation uses the per-unit cost entered at receiving for each lot, so it reflects actual landed cost rather than a standard cost estimate.

​
FEFO for shipping

FEFO logic applies to finished goods as well as ingredients. When you allocate finished lots to a customer shipment, Batchlane suggests the earliest-expiring finished lots first. This ensures older finished goods ship before newer production, protecting your customers’ shelf life and reducing the risk of finished goods expiring in your warehouse. You can confirm the suggested allocation or select a different lot — for example, if a specific customer requires a minimum remaining shelf life and the oldest lot doesn’t qualify.
If you receive lots without entering expiry dates, Batchlane has no basis for FEFO ordering and will treat those lots as having no expiry. FEFO suggestions will be unreliable, and expiry alerts will not fire for undated lots. Always enter expiry dates at receiving — it takes seconds and is the foundation of everything in this feature.