Traceability is the ability to follow material and its attributes through every stage of the supply chain. Done properly it is built on lot control: every transformation creates a new lot, and every new lot records its parent lots. That single discipline is what makes recall, audit and root-cause investigation possible.
The chain, link by link
1 · Cultivation / collection
The trail begins in the field: farm or wild-collection site, geo-reference, species and variety, sowing/harvest dates, and inputs used (for organic, the full input log). Wild-collected material needs a collection record and, where relevant, a permit or sustainability attestation.
2 · Harvest & primary processing
Harvest lots are assigned, then drying, cleaning and sorting are logged. The raw-material lot that enters the facility is linked to the harvest lot(s) it came from — the first parent-child link in the chain.
3 · Inward goods & raw-material QC
On arrival the material is quarantined, identity-tested (e.g. HPTLC fingerprint, organoleptic, foreign-matter), and screened for heavy metals, pesticides and micro. Only on QC release does it move to production — and that release is tied to the incoming lot.
4 · Extraction & standardisation
Extraction creates the production batch. The batch record links input raw-material lots, solvent lots, process parameters, in-process checks and the standardisation step that brings the active to spec. This is where one or more raw lots become one finished extract lot.
5 · Finished-goods QC & release
The finished lot is sampled and tested against the full specification; the COA is generated and the lot is QC-released. A retained sample is archived against the lot number for its shelf life.
6 · Packing, dispatch & shipment
Packing records tie drum and carton labels to the finished lot. Dispatch documents — invoice, packing list, COA, and export paperwork — all carry the same lot number, so the shipment your customer receives points straight back to the field.
The documents that hold it together
- Lot genealogy — the parent-child map linking finished lot → raw lots → harvest lots → field.
- Batch / manufacturing records — the signed production history for each extract lot.
- COA — the tested release statement, carrying the finished-lot number.
- Retained samples — archived per lot, enabling later independent verification.
- Mass-balance reconciliation — input vs output vs waste, so quantities add up and substitution is detectable.
- Recall procedure — the tested ability to isolate every shipment of an affected lot within hours.
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