Run food and beverage exports with lot-to-certificate traceability
In food and beverage exports the buyer never asks only for a price; they ask for the lot number, the remaining shelf life, the health certificate and the cold chain record. When those records are scattered across spreadsheets, warehouse notebooks and email attachments, a single audit or recall question turns into days of file digging. Sighthem keeps the entire food export flow on one platform, from finding customers to the proforma, from lot, shelf-life and FEFO stock control to cold chain records, from the health-certificate document set to the COMMERCIAL INVOICE. Behind every shipment you can see which lot, which quality record and which document sits there, with a single query.
Find importers and distributors in your target market, run the relationship from one card
In food exports the buyer is usually an importer, a distributor or the purchasing team of a retail chain; reaching the right decision maker is half the job. Sighthem keeps prospecting and marketing in the same flow as the CRM.
- Discover companies in your target market, verify the emails of purchasing and quality contacts with the discovery and verification service, and stop burning your sender reputation on dead addresses
- Build segments by country and product category, send bulk email sequences, track opens and clicks, and move interested buyers into the pipeline as leads
- Chat with buyers on their own channel through the official WhatsApp API or QR pairing mode, break the language barrier on phone calls with live translation, and keep every touchpoint on the customer card
- Scan business cards at food trade fairs, create leads automatically with OCR through the mobile PWA, and use trade fair lead tracking so no follow-up gets lost after you return
Quote, proforma and order: a clean flow under raw material and season pressure
In food, prices move with raw materials, exchange rates and the season, and the buyer wants every change in writing and approved. In Sighthem, quote, proforma and order are a single flow with every revision on record.
- Build the quote with product, quantity, Incoterm, delivery terms and currency, and price in the buyer's currency with multi-currency support
- Open a new revision when raw material prices shift; the revision history keeps it clear which version was approved at which price
- Capture buyer approval through the system and convert the approved proforma into an order in one flow, with quantities and prices carried over without copy errors
- Use order-based stock reservation so approved orders lock their stock, and the same batch is never promised to two buyers at once
Lot, shelf life and FEFO: answer a recall question in minutes
In food, traceability is not negotiable; the buyer writes it into the contract and the auditor asks for proof. In Sighthem, every product enters the warehouse with a lot and expiry date and leaves by the FEFO rule.
- Record every batch with its lot number and expiry date from goods receipt onward, and process movements by scanning GS1 barcodes instead of typing them in
- Pick shipments by the FEFO rule so the lot with the nearest expiry ships first, and short-shelf-life stock does not sit forgotten until it has to be destroyed
- In a recall scenario, see it in one query: which shipments carried this lot, to which buyers, and how much remains in the warehouse; download the report as Excel and hand it to the buyer or the auditor
- Track cold storage and dry storage separately with multiple warehouses, run transfers between them through the system, and import your existing stock records from Excel
Production recipes, quality control and cold chain: your HACCP audit trail is ready
Buyer audits and your HACCP plan demand records: which input was used, who checked it, what the temperature was. In Sighthem that evidence accumulates on its own, from production to shipment.
- Define the product recipe (BOM), open work orders from the recipe, and keep which inputs went into which product on the work order record
- Run quality control on incoming goods and at production output, issue a certificate of conformity or a non-conformity report based on the result, and keep the record tied to the product and lot
- Log cold chain temperature readings in the system, use the violation audit report to see which shipment had which deviation, and present your HACCP audit trail from a single report
- Use the production approval flow and the approval hub so critical steps cannot proceed without a manager's sign-off, and the answer to who approved this is always on file
Shipment, customs, inward processing and VAT refund: perishable cargo cannot wait
With perishable goods, every day at the port comes off the shelf life. Sighthem keeps the physical side of the shipment and the customs and incentive side on the same screen.
- Bind the shipment to packages and pallets, generate the packing list from the system, and manage partial shipments line by line from a single order
- See where the container is and spot waiting risk early with forwarder and demurrage tracking, so perishable cargo is never left sitting at the port
- Keep the GTIP code on the product card and link the customs declaration to the shipment, so which shipment belongs to which declaration lives in one place
- If you produce with imported raw materials, track inward processing (DIIB) inputs, offsets and commitment closure, and build the VAT refund file attached to the export transaction
Health certificate, documents, COMMERCIAL INVOICE and reports: the paperwork side complete
In food the document set is crowded: health certificate, certificate of origin, bill of lading, insurance, packing list. Under a letter of credit, date pressure is added on top. Sighthem manages the paperwork tied to the order and the shipment.
- Collect the document set in one list: bill of lading, COMMERCIAL INVOICE, packing list, certificate of origin, insurance and health certificate; a missing document shows up before the shipment leaves
- Under a letter of credit, get alerts on latest shipment and presentation dates, and use AI-assisted L/C text reading so certificate and document conditions are never overlooked
- Produce the COMMERCIAL INVOICE for exports and a GIB-compliant UBL-TR e-invoice for domestic sales; the system works with your own e-invoice integrator
- Shape order, shipment, cold chain, incoming goods QC and DIIB reports with the column picker and download them as Excel; role-based permissions and the TR+EN interface keep every team member within their own scope
Start lot and expiry recording at goods receipt and make GS1 barcode scanning a warehouse routine. FEFO only works when the inbound data is right; one expiry date skipped at receiving means the wrong lot goes out at shipment.
When a buyer audit or a recall question lands, you pull lot traceability, cold chain and QC reports straight from the system instead of digging through folders and spreadsheets. Audit preparation stops being a document-hunting campaign and comes down to downloading a few reports.
On a shipment with no temperature records, a cold chain violation can neither be proven nor disproven afterwards; in a dispute you are left with no data. Make temperature logging and the violation audit report a standard step of every cold chain shipment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a generic CRM not enough for food exports?
A generic CRM stops at tracking customers and opportunities; a food exporter's real burden is lots, expiry dates, FEFO, cold chain records, health certificates and the HACCP audit trail. When those records live in spreadsheets outside the CRM, sales and operations drift apart and audit evidence stays scattered. Sighthem keeps these steps in the core of the product: the order, the lot, the quality record and the document are linked to each other. So which lot went to which buyer with which document lives in a single system.
How does lot, shelf-life and FEFO tracking work?
Every batch is recorded at goods receipt with its lot number and expiry date, and movements are processed by scanning GS1 barcodes. During shipment picking the system applies the FEFO rule and releases the lot with the nearest expiry first. Stock is held in a multi-warehouse model, so you track cold storage and dry storage separately and run transfers between them. You can start by importing your existing stock records from Excel.
What does the system give me in a recall scenario?
When you query the affected lot, you see which shipments carried it to which buyers and how much remains in the warehouse. You shape the report with the column picker, download it as Excel and hand it to the buyer or the inspection body as evidence. Because lot records run unbroken from goods receipt to shipment, the traceability chain never snaps. Instead of days of folder digging, you deliver the answer in minutes.
Do the cold chain temperature records help me in a HACCP audit?
Yes. You log temperature readings against the shipment, and the violation audit report shows which shipment had which deviation. When an audit asks for HACCP monitoring evidence, you present the records as a single report. Because the records are tied to the shipment and the customer, you can also show the cold chain history per buyer.
Can I track the health certificate and the document set together with the letter of credit?
Yes. The document set sits in one list: bill of lading, COMMERCIAL INVOICE, packing list, certificate of origin, insurance and health certificate; a missing document shows up before shipment. Under a letter of credit you get alerts on the latest shipment and presentation dates. AI-assisted L/C text reading helps you extract the certificate and document conditions the credit demands, which lowers the risk of a discrepant presentation.
What do the production recipe and quality control side cover?
You define the product recipe (BOM) and open work orders from it; which inputs went into which product stays on record with the work order. Quality control runs on incoming goods and at production output, producing a certificate of conformity or a non-conformity report depending on the result. On the purchasing side, supplier purchase orders (PO) and 3-way matching (invoice, order, goods receipt) verify that what arrived matches what was ordered. By binding critical steps to the approval hub, nothing proceeds without a manager's sign-off.
Move the lot, certificate and cold chain burden of your food exports onto one platform. Try Sighthem free for 14 days on the PRO plan, no card required.
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