Local guides · Post 25
The batch and traceability records a Pembrokeshire food producer keeps
For small food and drink producers in Pembrokeshire: what the batch records cost in evenings, and how to get them written without giving up the kitchen.
The smokehouse near Fishguard finishes a run on a Thursday. By the time the last tray is away, there is a page of production notes, a delivery note from a supplier in Pembroke Dock, and a temperature sheet filled in by hand. The batch records still have to be written up, and that happens after everything else.
Every batch has the same shape. What went in, who supplied it, which lot it came from, what date, what it became, and where it went. A chutney kitchen in Haverfordwest answers those six questions for every pan. A drinks producer outside Milford Haven answers them for every brew. The order changes. The fields do not.
When an inspection comes, or a customer asks where a jar came from, the answer has to be there already. Rebuilt from memory at that point, it is slow and it is thin. Written the same evening, it takes minutes.
The maths (a sketch, not a client figure)
Paperwork for one production day is about an hour if the notes are fresh, and longer if they are not. The figures below are assumptions, not a measured result.
- × 1 hour an evening (assumed) = the paperwork
- × 4 evenings a week (assumed) = 4 hours
- × £30 an hour (assumed) = £120 a week
- × 46 working weeks (assumed) = £5,520 a year
The same records drafted from the day's notes, with a person reading and signing, cuts the writing to a few minutes an evening.
Score it: the three checks
- Hours. Four evenings a week at least, and it lands at the kitchen table after a full day. It clears the bar because those hours are regular and they are already being spent.
- Repeat. Every batch asks for the same fields in the same order, so a new starter can run it from one written page. If the page can be written, the drafts can be prepared for you.
- Risk-if-wrong. A record that does not match the batch is a problem at an inspection, and a bigger problem in a recall, when the wrong pallet is pulled or the right one is missed. That is why a person checks every entry before it is filed.
Try one thing this week (free)
Pick one batch from this week and write its record by hand, start to finish, in the order an inspection would need it. Time how long it takes and note what you had to look up. That page is the list of fields, and it shows where the drafts should come from.
Where a person stays
The record is prepared from the day's production notes: supplier, lot, date, quantity, and where the batch went. A named person checks it against what actually happened and signs it off. Anything that does not match goes back to be corrected. The signature is the point. Financial, compliance and legal work stays approval-only, always.
FAQ
Yes. Records follow the food, and any batch you have sold can be asked about, however near it was sold.
What went in, who supplied it, the lot it came from, the date, what it became, and where it went. The fields are the same for every batch.
The change is written on that day's record, so the batch in the jar and the lot on the paper still match.
It prepares the record from your notes but it does not sign it. A named person checks it and approves it before it is filed.
The £499 diagnostic. One fixed fee: a one-hour call, a written report, and a 30-minute follow-up that ranks what to build first. 5 hours a week found or a full refund, and the fee credits in full against any build.