The International Trade Center reports that traceability technology can reduce a recall by as much as 50 to 95%. That means businesses don’t have to pull every product off the shelf. Rather than clearing everything, they only need to remove the ones that are actually affected. Food distributors are under growing pressure to guarantee product safety and quality because of strict rules and rising customer expectations. So, businesses need a powerful food traceability WMS.
At Rubicon Logistics Solutions, we help food and beverage enterprises implement Mantis LVS, a robust warehouse management system built for full visibility, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency in complex food warehousing environments.
What Is Traceability in Food and Beverage Warehousing?
Traceability in food and beverage warehousing refers to the ability to accurately track the origin, movement, handling, and destination of food products throughout the supply chain. This includes internal traceability, monitoring movement within the warehouse, and external traceability, which involves suppliers, distribution, and retail endpoints.
Key traceability elements include:
Lot/batch tracking
Supplier and source data logging
Shelf life and expiration monitoring
Storage condition records
Food traceability WMS enables businesses to spot problems fast and handle perishable products before they go bad.
Why Traceability Is Essential in the Current Landscape
Several factors are pushing traceability to the top of the food industry’s agenda:
Regulatory pressure: Laws such as the FDA’s FSMA and EU Regulation 178/2002 require companies to keep detailed documentation and be ready to act fast if a recall happens. 

Consumer demand for transparency: Today’s buyers want to know where their food comes from and how it was handled.

Brand protection: One poorly managed recall can cause millions in losses and long-term damage to brand reputation.

Operational control: High-performing warehouses highly depend on traceability data to improve forecasting, reduce waste, and enhance accuracy.
To be honest, these challenges are too big to handle with spreadsheets or separate databases. So they need a proper system to manage everything easily.
Challenges in Achieving Traceability Without WMS
Without an advanced warehouse management system like Mantis LVS, traceability becomes a slow, manual process with a high risk of errors. Common issues include:
Inaccurate or incomplete records
Time-consuming recall procedures
No real-time visibility into stock movement
Inability to track product history across shifts, zones, or facilities
Poor integration between the warehouse, ERP, and logistics systems
When handling thousands of SKUs across multiple facilities, even a small tracking error can escalate into a major compliance issue.
How a WMS Like Mantis LVS Powers End-to-End Traceability for Large Enterprises
A modern WMS like Mantis LVS makes food traceability easier and more reliable.
With Mantis LVS, enterprises can:
Track products from receiving to dispatch with lot and batch numbers
Monitor temperature and storage conditions to follow safety standards
Automate expiry and shelf-life tracking to minimize spoilage
Log every movement with timestamps and operator actions for audit readiness
Streamline recall execution by instantly identifying affected items and locations
By digitizing every touchpoint in the warehouse, WMS provides both operational control and avoids mistakes.
Key WMS Features That Support Food Traceability
Alright, here are the critical WMS features enterprises should prioritize when traceability is a top concern:
Lot/Batch Control: For in-depth tracking of food items and ingredients
Expiry Management & Shelf-Life Alerts: Supports FEFO (First Expired, First Out) logic
Audit Trails & Recall Reporting: Maintain compliance and minimize risk
Barcode & RFID Integration: For fast, error-free data capture
Cold Chain Monitoring Support: Link with temperature sensors for sensitive goods
Supplier Source Data: Track origins and history across multiple sources
Quarantine & Quality Hold Functions: Automate checks for suspect or flagged inventory
Surprisingly, these features are natively supported in Mantis LVS. So that’s why it a powerful choice for large-scale food and beverage logistics.
How Rubicon Logistics Solutions Helps Enterprises Implement Advanced WMS for Food Traceability
For enterprises, WMS implementation takes planning and effort because it’s a major change in how they run things. And Rubicon Logistics Solutions helps enterprises get full traceability using Mantis LVS.
Well, here is how Rubicon makes it work:
Assessment & Planning: The process starts with checking the client’s existing traceability system, understanding the gaps, and pointing out any risks.

Mantis LVS Configuration: Rubicon helps you align the system to fit your warehouse design, food categories, and regulatory demands.

Enterprise Integration: Rubicon helps clean integration with ERP, cold chain monitoring, and quality systems, which are critical for large-scale operations.

Compliance-Built Deployment:  From the moment it’s deployed, the WMS is set up to handle food safety requirements.

Continuous Optimization: After deployment, the system keeps improving with data-driven updates that strengthen traceability.
Rubicon helps build traceable, compliant, and intelligent warehouse ecosystems for the food and beverage industry.
Conclusion
As global supply chains grow more complex, food traceability will only become more critical. Also, there will be more rules to follow. But enterprises that adopt digital food traceability WMS systems now will have an easier time handling future challenges.
By partnering with Mantis, Rubicon offers Mantis LVS that provides full traceability, clearer operations, and helps earn consumer trust. Together, let’s build a warehouse that’s smarter, safer, and keeps your food supply fully traceable