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Batchlane’s traceability is not a separate system you maintain alongside your operations — it is the natural output of the receiving, production, and shipping work your team does every day. When a lot is received, linked to a batch run, and then shipped to a customer, that chain of custody is already recorded. The traceability tools simply surface that chain so you can read it in either direction in seconds.

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Forward and backward traceability

Batchlane supports two directions of trace. You can start with an ingredient lot and follow it forward to every finished good and shipment it touched, or start with a customer shipment and trace backward to every source ingredient. Forward trace — starting from an ingredient lot: 
Ingredient Lot: JAL-0604-B (Fresh jalapeño, received 2024-06-04)
  └── Batch Run: SAL-0612-02 (2024-06-12)
        └── Finished Lot: SAL-0612-02 (Salsa Roja 16 oz)
              └── Shipment #S-0045 → Whole Foods Distribution Center
Backward trace — starting from a customer shipment: 
Shipment #S-0045 → Whole Foods Distribution Center
  └── Finished Lot: SAL-0612-02 (Salsa Roja 16 oz)
        └── Batch Run: SAL-0612-02 (2024-06-12)
              └── Input Lots:
                    ├── TOM-0610-A (Fresh tomato)
                    ├── JAL-0604-B (Fresh jalapeño)
                    └── JAR-0601-C (Glass jar 16 oz)
Both directions are available from a single genealogy view — open the trace and toggle between forward and backward to see the full picture.

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Running a trace

1

Navigate to the lot or use Traceability search

Go to Inventory → Lots and find your lot by browsing, or go to Traceability → Search and enter the lot number or item name directly. The search works for ingredient lots, finished lots, and shipment numbers.
2

Search for the lot by lot number or item name

Type the lot number (e.g., JAL-0604-B) or item name (e.g., Fresh jalapeño) into the search field. Batchlane returns matching lots with their current status, quantity, and linked records.
3

Open the lot and click View Genealogy

Select the lot from the results to open the lot detail page. Click View Genealogy in the top-right corner to open the trace view.
4

Review the genealogy tree

The genealogy tree displays all linked records — batch runs that used this lot, finished lots generated from those runs, and shipments that included those finished lots. Each level of the tree is expandable.
5

Drill into any record

Click any node in the genealogy tree — a batch run, a finished lot, or a shipment — to open the full record. You can review the batch record details, the input lot table, the signoff, or the shipment line items without leaving the trace view.
6

Export the trace

Click Export to download the full genealogy as a CSV (structured data for each linked record) or PDF (formatted one-page trace report suitable for sharing with auditors or customers).

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Mock recall walkthrough

Food safety programs typically require a mock recall drill at least once a year. Batchlane makes this a straightforward exercise rather than a half-day scramble. Given a suspect ingredient lot — for example, a supplier notifies you that lot JAL-0604-B may have been mislabeled:
  1. Search for the lot using the Traceability search
  2. Run a forward trace to find every batch run that used JAL-0604-B
  3. Identify affected finished lots — every finished lot generated by those batch runs is potentially affected
  4. Find customer shipments — trace forward from the finished lots to see every shipment that included them, including customer name, shipment date, and quantities
  5. Export the scope report — download the full trace as CSV or PDF to document the scope of the recall, the affected lots, and the customers who received them
The same trace that takes minutes in Batchlane would take hours or days if your team were reconstructing it from paper batch records and shipping spreadsheets.

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Customer and regulatory requests

When a retail buyer, a third-party auditor, or a regulatory inspector asks for traceability documentation, open the relevant lot in Batchlane, run the trace, and export the report. The export includes the lot’s receiving record, every batch run it was part of, the finished lots and their recipe versions, and the shipment details — all in a single document.
When all your receiving, production, and shipping data lives in Batchlane, responding to a traceability request takes about five minutes. Teams that piece this together from separate spreadsheets, paper records, and email threads typically spend several hours — or longer — assembling the same information for a single lot inquiry.
Traceability exports — including CSV and PDF genealogy reports — are available on the Growth and Pro plans. On the Free plan, you can view the genealogy tree in the app but cannot export it.