How Dynamics 365 Business Central and YAVEON ProBatch Enhance Food and Beverage Traceability
Dynamics 365 Business Central – powered by YAVEON ProBatch – can help enhance your food and beverage traceability processes and more effectively manage recalls.
In the food and beverage manufacturing industry, recalls are a financial and reputational risk that can disrupt your operations and eliminate customer trust if not managed properly. Compliance regulations like FSMA, SQF, and BRC are becoming stricter, meaning your manufacturing business needs to implement a strong traceability strategy powered by effective and smart software.
This post will highlight the growing importance of effective recall management and how Dynamics 365 Business Central and YAVEON ProBatch can help you respond to recalls quickly to maintain your positive customer reputation and minimize disruptions.
The Compliance Challenge: Barriers to Effective Food and Beverage Traceability
Despite awareness, many food manufacturers struggle with traceability due to:
- Supplier Disconnect: Lack of real-time, secure communication about raw materials and potential recalls.
- Internal Control Gaps: Manual tracking, data silos, and human errors lead to inefficiencies.
- Compliance Complexity: Navigating FSMA, SQF, and BRC regulations without integration can be overwhelming.
- Multiple Stakeholders: With various teams handling different aspects, streamlined accountability is critical.
- The High Cost of Recalls: Beyond direct financial losses, recalls damage brand trust and reliability.
The Solution: Use Dynamics 365 & YAVEON ProBatch to Enhance Traceability
If these challenges sound familiar to you, implementing Dynamics 365 and YAVEON ProBatch is your way to address them head-on. These two solutions transform recall management from reactive to proactive, providing end-to-end traceability features to help you track ingredients from suppliers to end customers while maintaining compliance with regulations.
Meet Your Traceability Targets with YAVEON and Dynamics 365
When developing a traceability plan, Business Central and YAVEON ProBatch can help you by assisting you through the three key steps in meeting your targets, including:
- Inspection Features: The specific features in Business Central help automate tasks, track items, and ensure compliance. This step helps you create a strategy that is proactive instead of reactive.
- Inspection Plan: Once you know what features you’re going to use, it will be much easier to track ingredients and inspection processes. Create a plan and share it with your team so you are all on the same page.
- Inspection Order: When your plan is established, you can set up an inspection order that will be the overarching tracker of your entire process from end to end. This ensures that processes run smoothly and on time and helps you identify areas of improvement.
Key Features and Benefits of Dynamics 365 and YAVEON ProBatch
- Lot & Batch Tracking:
- Tracks raw materials, production batches, and final products with complete visibility.
- Allows instant traceability in case of a recall, minimizing downtime and product waste.
- Quality Control & Inspection Plans:
- Ensures each ingredient and finished product meets safety standards before distribution.
- Automates quality testing and documentation to eliminate human errors.
- Automated Compliance & Reporting:
- Generates reports for FSMA, SQF, and BRC audits, reducing administrative burdens.
- Provides digital records for easy retrieval during inspections.
- Supplier Communication & Integration:
- Enhances supplier collaboration with real-time notifications about potential risks or ingredient changes.
- Improves visibility into the entire supply chain to prevent disconnects.
- Electronic Signatures & Document Control:
- Ensures accountability by recording approvals and changes at every step.
- Reduces manual paperwork, speeding up compliance processes.
- Real-Time Recall Execution:
- Reduces recall response times from days to minutes by instantly identifying affected batches.
- Protects brand reputation by ensuring swift action in case of contamination or labeling errors.
- Scalability & Customization:
- Adapts to business growth, handling increasing compliance demands effortlessly.
- Customizable workflows and dashboards cater to the unique needs of each manufacturer.
YAVEON ProBatch extends Business Central to ensure you have access to all the features you need to manage these processes effectively. Using this combined solution saves time across your organization, automating time-consuming workflows, eliminating manual tasks, and allowing your team to deal quickly with recalls. This proactive response strategy not only builds customer confidence but also lets your team focus on more valuable tasks that drive your business forward.
Note: If you are a larger business, consider Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management. It’s an ERP system geared more towards enterprise organizations with more complex manufacturing needs. Whereas you need YAVEON to extend Business Central to meet this level of functionality, Finance and Supply Chain Management already has those features built in. Read our blog post to determine whether Business Central or Finance and Supply Chain Management is right for you.
The Key Phases to Creating Strong Food and Beverage Traceability Processes
Dynamics 365 contains a suite of effective tools to help you build the five key pillars of a solid traceability strategy, including:
- Food safety plan: Pinpoint potential hazards at every stage of production by establishing a comprehensive safety and inspection plan.
- Regulatory compliance: Make sure your team is knowledgeable about all applicable local, national, and international food safety standards.
- Documentation: Keep detailed records of food safety procedures and corrective actions taken when issues arise. Ensure your team has access to this data.
- Facility Maintenance: Clean facilities lead to less contamination, which will ultimately lead to fewer recalls.
- Continuous Improvement: No strategy should be set aside once it’s established. Keep looking for ways to improve your processes.
The Growing Concern: Recalls Are on the Rise
Now that you understand how Dynamics 365 helps you implement a proactive recall strategy, let’s analyze why it’s important.
Recent FDA data shows that between 2018 and 2024, the food and beverage industry has seen between 300 and 400 recalls every year, approximately one per day.
The Leading Causes of Food Recalls
Understanding the root causes of recalls is essential for preventing them. The leading contributors include:
- Undeclared Allergens (49%) – Cross-contamination or labeling errors involving major allergens like dairy, tree nuts, and gluten.
- Bacterial Contamination (25%) – Pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria can have severe health consequences.
- Foreign Objects & Labeling Errors – Mislabeling, packaging mistakes, or the presence of unintended materials in products.
Severity of Recalls: The Alarming Reality
Recalls are classified into three categories:
- Class 3: Unlikely to cause health effects (e.g., minor labeling issues).
- Class 2: Possible but not life-threatening health risks.
- Class 1: Severe risk, potentially leading to serious health issues or death.
Shockingly, 50% of recalls today fall under Class 1, underscoring the urgency of a proactive approach to food safety.
Industries at Highest Risk
No sector is immune, but some industries are particularly vulnerable:
- Produce: Due to its high contamination risk during production and packaging.
- Meat & Poultry: Complex supply chains and processing increase exposure.
- Bakery & Dairy: Frequent allergen-related recalls make these industries high-risk.
Future-Proof Your Operations with Stoneridge
Recalls aren’t just statistics—they’re real business disruptions that affect your customers, your team members, and your bottom line. By implementing a robust traceability strategy with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and YAVEON ProBatch, food and beverage manufacturers like you can protect your brand, reduce risks, and maintain compliance effortlessly.
Don’t wait for a recall to expose vulnerabilities in your system; implement Business Central and YAVEON ProBatch today to address those before they become major headaches.
Talk to the Stoneridge experts today to implement and optimize your recall strategy.
Co-Author: Jonathan Cotten
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