Business Central for food and beverage producers: recipes, lots and batches

Ingredient lots in Business Central for food and beverage

Item tracking codes make lot numbers and expiry dates mandatory on receipt. They apply to the ingredients and packaging that need them. You can keep the supplier's lot beside your own. So a question from a supplier or an inspector gets the exact reference they use.

Items that need no tracking, such as cleaning supplies, stay simple. We decide item by item. So receiving staff are not slowed down by fields that add nothing.

Recipes and yields held as bills of materials

Each product's recipe is a production bill of materials. It lists ingredient quantities for each batch, plus scrap percentages for expected losses. Versions let you change a recipe from a given date. You then keep the history of what was made before.

Standard Business Central is built for discrete production. So catch weight, or co-products from one process, come from a food industry app when your products need them. We tell you early whether that applies.

Batch production that records what was really used

You release production orders for each batch. Consumption records the exact ingredient lots that went in. The finished goods then get their own lot number and expiry date. That ties every carton back to its ingredients.

Actual use and output also feed product costing. So the cost of each batch reflects real yields, not only the recipe on paper.

A mock recall run from one lot number in Business Central for food and beverage

The item tracing page follows a lot forward to every batch and customer shipment. It can also go backward from a finished lot to every ingredient and supplier. So a mock recall becomes a report you can export. It is no longer a search through paper records.

You can block a suspect lot, so nobody can pick or ship it while you investigate. Then you release it again when it is cleared.

Expiry dates set from each batch's production date

Each finished item can carry an expiration calculation, such as a number of days or months. When a batch is output, Business Central can work out the expiry date of the new lot from that formula. So every finished lot leaves production with a date, and nobody types it by hand.

In your own warehouse, a location can pick first-expired-first-out, and reports list stock near its expiry date. Distributors that run cold chains and route sales have more to set up there. Our food distribution page covers that side.

Business Central for food and beverage: questions from producers

Is Business Central used by food and beverage companies?

Yes. Bakeries, drink makers and other food producers use Business Central for recipes, batch production, lot tracking, expiry dates and recall tracing. Some add a food industry app for catch weight or process features. So the standard product covers the core, and an add-on fills the gaps that your own products create. We help you tell which gaps are real before you spend on extras.

Can Business Central do lot tracking and recalls?

Yes. Item tracking records lots and expiry dates. Item tracing then follows a lot forward to customers and backward to suppliers. So you can answer a recall question from one screen, not from a stack of paper. We also run a mock recall with your team before go-live. That proves the trail holds when it matters.

How are expiry dates set on finished batches?

An expiration calculation on the item works out the date when the batch is output. Or your team enters it on the lot if each batch differs. The date then follows the lot to every shipment. So a customer or inspector question about shelf life has one answer. Picking by FEFO in your warehouse then sends the oldest lots out first.

Does Business Central handle catch weight?

Not as standard. Producers that sell by actual weight usually add a food industry app from Microsoft's marketplace. We help you choose one. First we look at your products, your scales and your invoices. Then we compare the apps against that list. So you buy only what fits the way you really sell.

Can we keep recipe history?

Yes. Production BOM versions with starting dates keep the history of each recipe. New batches then use the current version. So you can always say which recipe made a given lot. That helps with audits, and it helps when a customer asks why a product changed. Old versions stay on file and never block new work.

Related pages for Business Central for food and beverage

Food projects share a lot with manufacturing and distribution. The pages below cover lot tracking, batch production, shelf life and the wider sector setups. Start with the one that matches your biggest worry. Then ask us how Business Central for food and beverage can fit your recipes, your lots and your customers. For the product detail, see Microsoft's guide to tracing item-tracked items.