Business Central Mock Recall: Lot Traceability Step by Step

Your auditor picks a line off the receiving log: Sunflower Oil, supplier lot SO-5531. Show me every finished lot it went into, every customer who received it, and how much is still in the building. Then they look at the clock.

Here is how to run that exercise in standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and where the time goes.

What a mock recall has to prove

The trace has to answer four questions with records, not memory:

• One step back. Which supplier sent the lot, on which receipt, on which date, in what quantity.
• One step forward. Every production order that consumed it, every finished lot that came out, every customer shipment of those lots.
• Quantities that add up. What came in equals what was consumed, plus what is on hand, plus adjustments. The same check applies to each finished lot. This is the mass balance.
• Speed. How long it took to get a complete answer, and who did the work.

A full recall test also covers decisions and communication. The trace is the part your ERP makes easy or painful.

What auditors and regulations ask for

Requirements depend on your scheme, market and products. Three common references:

SQF. In the SQF Food Safety Code for Food Manufacturing (Edition 10 in SQFI’s code library), system element 2.6.2 asks that finished product be traceable at least one step forward to the customer, and that inputs be traceable at least one step back to the supplier, with receipt dates. The trace is tested at least annually, on products from different shifts. Element 2.6.3 asks that the withdrawal and recall system be tested and verified as effective at least annually. Records of both tests are kept.

BRCGS. Take the traceability and recall test requirements, including any time target, from the issue of the Standard you are audited against and from your certification body. Time targets are often quoted second-hand.

FDA Food Traceability Rule (FSMA 204). The rule applies to persons who manufacture, process, pack or hold foods on FDA’s Food Traceability List, including foods that contain a listed food as an ingredient in the form in which it is listed. Covered firms keep Key Data Elements (KDEs) for Critical Tracking Events (CTEs): harvesting, cooling, initial packing, first land-based receiving from a fishing vessel, shipping, receiving and transformation. They keep a traceability plan and must provide records to FDA within 24 hours of a request (or a reasonable time FDA agrees to), including an electronic sortable spreadsheet when needed during an outbreak or recall.

FDA’s page says the original compliance date was January 20, 2026, that FDA proposed a 30-month extension to July 20, 2028, and that Congress has since directed FDA not to enforce the rule before that date. Check the page before you plan around it.

What standard Business Central gives you

Item tracking codes. With Lot Specific Tracking on, the lot an item came in with must follow it when it leaves inventory. Lot Warehouse Tracking is needed to assign lots in warehouse activities.

Item ledger entries. Lots entered on Item Tracking Lines are posted to the item ledger entries. Remaining Quantity shows what has not yet been applied.

Item Tracing. Filter on item, lot, serial or package number and run the trace. Usage -> Origin works back from where the lot was used to where it came from. Origin -> Usage works forward from where it entered inventory. Show Components controls whether component lots appear: No, Item-tracked Only or All. Trace Opposite (from Line) reverses direction from any line.

Two notes from Microsoft matter here. Item Tracing is based on posted entries only. And it shows applied transactions only, so if the same lot was received on several transactions, it may not show all of them.

Find Entries. Long known as Navigate, it finds every record of a lot number, posted and open. Run from a trace line, it catches unposted sales lines, production orders and journals that still carry the lot.

Lot No. Information Card. Its Blocked field excludes the lot from any transactions.

Quality Management. Microsoft’s Quality Management app, introduced in 2026 release wave 1, creates quality inspections and can block lots based on inspection results. Its Learn overview describes inspections, lot blocking and handling of noncompliant items; it does not describe a trace or recall function.

Running the exercise in standard Business Central

The example: 1,000 kg of Sunflower Oil, lot SO-5531, received on one purchase receipt. Two production orders consumed 380 kg and 290 kg and produced Granola Bar 40 g lots GB-24118 (1,200 cases) and GB-24119 (900 cases). C-2001 received 600 cases of GB-24118, C-2002 received 400 cases of GB-24118 and 300 of GB-24119, and C-2003 received 500 cases of GB-24119.

1. Start the clock. Note the question, the time and the team.
2. Trace forward. In Item Tracing, enter SO-5531 in Lot No. Filter and the oil in Item Filter, choose Origin -> Usage, keep Show Components on Item-tracked Only, choose Trace, then Expand All. You should see the receipt, consumption on both production orders, output of both finished lots and the shipments to C-2001, C-2002 and C-2003.
3. Trace back. Trace GB-24118 and GB-24119 with Usage -> Origin and Show Components set to All, to confirm every other ingredient and packaging lot.
4. Find open documents. Select the receipt line and choose Find entries. Look for open sales lines, production orders and journals.
5. Reconcile. Filter item ledger entries on each lot, use Open in Excel (it keeps the page filters) and total by entry type. SO-5531: 1,000 received, 670 consumed, 330 remaining. GB-24118: 1,200 produced, 1,000 shipped, 200 remaining. GB-24119: 900 produced, 800 shipped, 100 remaining.
6. Locate what is left. Note the location and remaining quantity of each open entry. Item Tracing does not show bins, so open the bin contents (or warehouse entries) for that lot to find the pallets.
7. Decide the hold. In a mock you usually do not block real stock. Record who would block the lots, how, and how long it would take.
8. Write it up. End time, people, results, gaps, corrective actions.

Where the time goes in practice:

• Exports. The trace and the ledger quantities sit on different pages, so someone stitches them together in Excel.
• Units. Kilograms in, cases out. Conversion mistakes surface in the reconciliation.
• Several receipts. If SO-5531 arrived on two receipts, check Find Entries as well, because of the applied-transactions note.
• Pallets. The trace ends at a lot and a location. Finding which pallets hold 330 kg of oil and 300 cases of bars often takes longer than the trace.

Where the gaps show in a warehouse

Which pallet holds the lot now. Business Central tracks lot, serial and package numbers, and warehouse entries define availability by bin. Some companies use package numbers as pallet IDs, which needs package tracking on the item tracking code; Business Central still treats them as tracking numbers, not as pallets with contents. A lot trace is still not a pallet list. Our guide to warehouse management in Dynamics 365 explains where license plates fit.

Partial pallets. After picking, a pallet of GB-24118 might hold 37 cases while its label still says 50.

Lots split across locations. A transfer puts part of a lot in a second site. Each location needs its own count and hold.

In the building versus shipped. Picked stock that is not yet shipped is still in the building, often staged at the dock. Business Central’s availability logic treats it as already being processed. Check open warehouse shipments too, or it can leave on a truck after the recall starts.

Putting stock on hold at once. The Blocked field freezes the whole lot, so block it where it stands or move it first. Quality Management blocking also acts on a tracking number: lot, serial or package. Holding one pallet while the rest stays available means that pallet needs its own number. Our guide to quarantine and quality release in Business Central covers the hold options.

A record for the auditor. The entries live in Business Central; the exercise record (times, people, gaps, corrective actions) usually lives in a spreadsheet.

How Modax WMS handles traceability inside Business Central

Modax WMS is a license plate warehouse that runs inside your Business Central tenant, with no second database. Every pallet, case and tote is a license plate with its quantity, lot, expiry date and status, and pallets you produce carry a GS1 SSCC.

For a mock recall, that changes the warehouse half of the exercise:

• Lots on every posting. Consumption posts with the lots that were picked, and the posted shipment carries the lots that were actually scanned. The trace rests on standard Business Central entries.
• Trace both ways. A supplier lot forward to every finished lot, kit and customer shipment, or a finished lot back to its components.
• Mass balance from the same ledger. Received, consumed, produced, shipped and on hand.
• One recall screen. The customers to notify, the pallets still in the warehouse, and one action that puts what is left on hold. The same lines print as the recall report.
• Status per plate. Available, Hold, Quarantine, Rejected or Expired. Part of a lot can be on hold on its own plate while the rest stays available, and a posting made in Business Central outside the handheld cannot take held stock.
• Evidence. With the Compliance Pack, every movement, override and status change is logged with user and time, ready to export for an audit.

Modax WMS helps you produce the records an auditor asks for. Your recall program, and compliance with SQF, FDA or any other requirement, stay with your quality team.

Checklist for your next mock recall

• Pick a lot your team did not choose, ideally an ingredient used in several products or received on more than one receipt.
• Check that Lot Specific Tracking and Lot Warehouse Tracking are on for every item in scope.
• Trace forward and back, then run Find Entries for open documents.
• Reconcile every lot in one unit of measure.
• Find every remaining unit physically, including picked stock on the dock.
• Record start and end time, people, gaps and corrective actions.
• Next time, choose a different shift and product family.

To see one lot traced from supplier to customer on a handheld inside Business Central, look at Modax WMS or talk to us.