Ops & Supply

How to trace lot-level inventory as CPG Founders

Ops & SupplyFor CPG Founders3 apps10 steps~20 min to set up

You're running lot traceability out of a Google Sheet with tabs named things like 'Lot Log v4 FINAL.' When a retailer like Whole Foods or Target asks for a mock recall, you spend two days cross-referencing your co-packer's emailed batch records, your 3PL's pick reports, and your Shopify orders to reconstruct who got what lot. FSMA 204 compliance requires one-up-one-down chain of custody and Key Data Elements for every batch — and right now that lives in a binder of COAs and a spreadsheet nobody else knows how to read. One recall, real or mock, exposes the whole fragility of the system.

Build this on Starch → See the apps used

Ops & SupplyFor CPG Founders3 apps10 steps~20 min to set up

Outcome

What you'll set up

Full lot-level chain of custody from ingredient supplier through co-packer production runs to every outbound shipment — so a mock recall that takes two days today takes ten minutes in Starch

FSMA 204-compliant Key Data Elements captured and queryable for every batch, so your next SQF or retailer audit doesn't require you to reconstruct records from emails

Expiration date tracking and first-expired-first-out rotation logic across your 3PL and co-packer locations, with alerts before product approaches its use-by window

The Starch recipe

Apps, data, and prompts

The combination of Starch apps, the data sources they pull from, and the prompts you use to drive them.

Apps used

Lot Tracker Inventory Planner Co-Packer Manager

Data sources & config

Lot Tracker, Inventory Planner, and Co-Packer Manager are purpose-built CPG apps currently in development — request beta access on each. In the meantime, Starch connects to Shopify from its integration catalog (queried live when your traceability app runs) to pull outbound order and fulfillment data. Your 3PL inventory reports and co-packer batch records can be ingested via file upload or, if your 3PL has a web portal, Starch automates it through your browser — no API needed. QuickBooks is synced on a schedule and can supply purchase order and vendor payment records that anchor ingredient lot receipt dates.

Prompts to copy

Build me a lot tracker that logs every inbound ingredient lot with supplier name, lot number, COA status, and receive date, then links each ingredient lot to the finished goods batch it went into, with the co-packer run date, yield, and outbound shipment records attached

When I enter a finished goods lot number, show me every customer order that received units from that lot, the ingredient lots that fed into it, and the co-packer batch record — formatted so I can hand it to an auditor

Flag any finished goods lot with an expiration date within 90 days that still has units on hand at my 3PL, and show me which sales channels those units are allocated to

Run these in Starch → or paste them into your favorite agent

Walkthrough

Step-by-step

1 Install Lot Tracker (currently in development — request beta access) and describe your traceability structure: ingredient lots in, production batches through the co-packer, finished goods lots out to your 3PL and then to customers.

2 Tell Starch what Key Data Elements you need to capture per FSMA 204 — traceability lot code, quantity and unit of measure, product description, location, date — and it builds the intake form so every new batch gets recorded consistently.

3 Connect Shopify from Starch's integration catalog so outbound order data flows into the traceability chain. When a lot ships, the order that carried it is already linked.

4 For your 3PL, either upload their inventory reports directly or — if they have a web portal — Starch automates the data pull through your browser, no API needed.

5 Wire Co-Packer Manager (in beta) to log each production run: run date, finished goods lot number, ingredient lots consumed, yield actual vs. expected. Yield variance gets flagged automatically so you catch shrinkage at the co-packer before it becomes an inventory discrepancy.

6 Set expiration date rules in Inventory Planner: any finished goods lot within 90 days of expiry that still has positive on-hand gets surfaced in a dashboard, broken down by location and sales channel.

7 Run a mock recall drill: type a finished goods lot number into Lot Tracker and ask it to show every customer order, every ingredient lot, and the co-packer run record. This is what you hand an auditor from SQF, BRC, or a retail partner.

8 Tell Starch: 'Every Monday, generate a lot status report showing all open lots, their current on-hand quantities by location, days to expiration, and any COAs still missing.' Starch schedules the automation and Slacks or emails you the report.

9 When a co-packer batch closes, Starch auto-reconciles the ingredient lots consumed against the purchase orders in QuickBooks (synced on a schedule) — so your accounting records and your traceability records stay in sync without a manual step.

10 As your retail footprint grows, add distributor deduction data and wholesale order records. Describe the additional fields to Starch and it extends the existing app — you don't rebuild from scratch.

See this running on Starch

Connect your tools, describe what you want, and the agent builds it. Closed beta is free.

Try it on Starch →

Worked example

Whole Foods supplier audit — Lot 2025-1142, October 2025

Sample numbers from a real run

Finished goods lot 2025-1142 — units produced	2,400
Units shipped to WF Distribution Center (DC-Northeast)	960
Units shipped to Shopify DTC orders	384
Units remaining at 3PL	1,056
Ingredient lot ING-887 (oat flour, supplier: Heartland Mills) consumed in run	1
Days to expiration at time of audit	74

Whole Foods' supplier compliance team emails on a Tuesday requesting a mock recall for lot 2025-1142 — a granola SKU produced in a September co-packer run. Before Starch, this meant calling the co-packer for the batch record, downloading the 3PL's pick report, cross-referencing Shopify fulfillments, and building a pivot table. It took your ops person (you) about two days. With Lot Tracker, you type the lot number and within seconds you see: 2,400 units produced on September 14th at your co-packer; ingredient lot ING-887 (oat flour from Heartland Mills, COA on file) consumed in that run; 960 units shipped to the Whole Foods Northeast DC across three purchase orders; 384 units fulfilled to DTC customers across 127 Shopify orders; 1,056 units still on hand at your 3PL with 74 days to expiration. The chain of custody is complete, FSMA 204 Key Data Elements are all present, and you send the auditor a formatted PDF the same afternoon. The 3PL data came in via browser automation from their web portal — no API integration required.

Measurement

How you'll know it's working

Mock recall completion time — target under 30 minutes from lot number to full chain-of-custody report

COA coverage rate — percentage of inbound ingredient lots with a COA on file before production begins

Lots with missing Key Data Elements — should be zero at any given time

Inventory at risk of expiration — units with fewer than 60 days to use-by still sitting at the 3PL

Yield variance by co-packer run — actual finished goods units vs. expected based on ingredient inputs

Comparison

What this replaces

The other ways teams handle this today, and how the Starch version compares.

Google Sheets + email binder

Free and familiar, but a mock recall takes days instead of minutes, there's no chain-of-custody enforcement, and one wrong VLOOKUP breaks the audit trail

Icicle or Wherefour (dedicated food ERP)

Purpose-built for food traceability and FSMA, but starts at $500–$1,500/month and assumes you have a production manager and QA team to run it — not a solo founder

Cin7 or Fishbowl (inventory + traceability module)

Strong on inventory management and lot tracking if you're mostly warehouse-focused, but not built for the co-packer relationship or FSMA 204 KDE structure specifically

Notion or Airtable (manual lot log)

More structured than a spreadsheet, but you're still entering data manually after every run and there's no automated recall query or expiration alerting

On Starch RECOMMENDED

One platform — lot tracker, inventory planner, copacker manager all running on connected data. Setup in plain English; numbers stay current via scheduled syncs and live agent queries.

Try it on Starch →

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Lot Tracker, Inventory Planner, and Co-Packer Manager are all listed as 'in development.' What can I actually use today?

You can request beta access for all three — they're being built for CPG operator founders specifically and early access puts you at the front of the line. While you wait, Starch's core platform is live today: you can describe your traceability workflow in natural language and Starch builds a custom app using your Shopify data (queried live from the integration catalog), your QuickBooks records (synced on a schedule), and your 3PL or co-packer data pulled via browser automation if they have a web portal. It won't have every CPG-specific feature the purpose-built apps will, but it gets you off the spreadsheet now.

My co-packer sends me batch records as PDFs over email. Can Starch actually use that data?

Yes. Starch syncs your Gmail on a schedule, so it can read inbound emails from your co-packer. You can tell Starch: 'When I receive an email from [co-packer] with a batch record PDF attached, extract the lot number, run date, finished goods quantity, and ingredient lots, and add a row to my lot tracker.' That turns an email inbox into structured traceability data without you touching a spreadsheet.

Does Starch store my lot records permanently, or is this just a live view of current data?

Starch is optimized for live operational data surfaces, not a long-horizon data warehouse. Lot records and traceability chains are stored in Starch and queryable for your current and recent production history. If you need a multi-year archived ledger for regulatory purposes, you should also maintain your own backup export — that's honest, and Starch can automate that export for you on a schedule.

My 3PL uses a portal that definitely doesn't have an API. Can Starch still pull inventory data from it?

Yes. Starch automates any website through your browser — no API needed. If you can log into your 3PL's portal and click through to an inventory report, Starch can do the same thing on a schedule and bring that data into your inventory dashboard. This is a first-class Starch pattern, not a workaround.

We sell through Shopify DTC and also through UNFI and KeHE. Can the lot traceability cover wholesale orders too?

Shopify is covered via live query from Starch's integration catalog. For UNFI and KeHE, EDI order confirmations often come via email or a distributor portal — Starch can read those emails (Gmail is synced on a schedule) or automate the portal through your browser. You'd describe the structure once and Starch links those wholesale shipments to the correct outbound lot records alongside your DTC orders.

Is Starch SOC 2 Type II certified? My retail buyer is asking.

Not yet — Starch is not currently SOC 2 Type II certified. If a retailer's supplier requirements mandate SOC 2 Type II for any platform handling your production data, that's worth flagging before you build your traceability workflow in Starch. It's on the roadmap.