PREVRA FSMA Food Traceability List: Track Every Ingredient From Supplier to Plate
A structured traceability list for recording ingredient sources, batch numbers, and use-by dates. Required under retained EU Regulation 178/2002 and critical for due diligence during an EHO inspection or product recall.
Why traceability is your legal due diligence defence
Under UK food law, every food business must be able to identify where each ingredient came from and where it went — known as the "one step forward, one step back" rule. If a supplier recalls a contaminated batch of flour and you cannot prove which batches you used and when, you have no due diligence defence in court.
A traceability list is not just about recalls. An EHO will ask to see your traceability records during any inspection. Without them, you risk a low food hygiene rating and potential enforcement action. The counter-intuitive part: traceability is often the weakest link in an otherwise solid SFBB system — most kitchens have temperature logs and cleaning schedules but cannot produce a complete ingredient trail on demand.
Building a traceability system that survives an EHO audit
Record every delivery: supplier name, product description, batch or lot number, quantity received, date received, and use-by or best-before date. File delivery notes and invoices alongside the list — these are your supporting evidence. Store records for at least the shelf life of the product plus six months.
Digital SFBB streamlines this: your team scans delivery barcodes or enters batch numbers from any phone, the system links ingredients to your menu items automatically, and when an EHO asks for a traceability exercise you can produce a complete forward-and-backward trail in under two minutes rather than scrambling through filing cabinets.
Prevra · Early access
Prevra is building a digital SFBB app.
The app is not ready yet. See the planned features and contact us about early access.
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