Organic mass balance in tracezilla

Tracezilla helps food companies prepare their organic mass balance sheets.

Introduction to the different elements of organic mass balance in tracezilla

tracezilla makes it easier for food companies that handle and market organic food products to do a mass balance sheet of their organic products.

In order to keep account of your organic mass balance, you must use the following features in tracezilla:

• Recipes. Read more about how to create a recipe here.
• Certificates. Read about adding certificates in tracezilla here.
• Stock-taking. You can read about stock-taking in tracezilla here.
• Input-Outputbalance. You can read about how an Input-Output balance report is generated in tracezilla here.
• Deviation Report. This report is used to identify possible deviations detected in the Input-Output balance. You can read more about the Deviation Report here.

How to do a mass balance for organic products

First time in tracezilla: Get your master data in place

If this is your first time doing an organic mass balance sheet in tracezilla, follow the instructions below.

1. Begin by setting up the certificate inspection body as a Partner:

Danish companies are being controlled by the Food authorities. For a Danish Company it can therefore by an advantage to name the certificate inspection body “Fødevarestyrelsen”.

• Click Partners in the top menu
• Click Add Partner in the top right corner
• Fill in the fields Country and Partner name – these are the only mandatory fields

2. Associate the ‘certificate inspection body’ to your organic products:

In order for tracezilla to know which SKUs are to be included in the organic mass balance sheet, you must associate the certificate inspection body to all of the organic SKUs.

The easiest way to do this is to download a file with your SKUs, add the certificate inspection body to all the relevant SKUs and then import the file back into tracezilla.

In order to this, click Warehouse in the top menu and select Stock Keeping Units in the drop down menu. Click Import and then Get Import Template. Copy the name of the certificate inspection body partner from tracezilla and paste it into the Excel sheet under the column BD next to the organic SKUs. Then save the file on your computer and upload the template to tracezilla clicking Import (again) and the selecting Upload file.

Calculate your inventory

You must perform a physical count of your inventory at specific intervals that you yourself must determine. For each of these intervals, you need to make an organic accounting sheet. In Denmark, the procedures surrounding the organic mass balance must be described in a report containing a description of the company’s self-inspection procedures regarding organic products.

The intervals can be between one and six months.

Make sure that all SKUs are accounted for – finished goods as well as raw materials. Remember to take note of the traceability information for each lot eg lot number or expiry date.

For this purpose, you can either print a stock-taking list or download a file to your computer from tracezilla.

Input-Output balance report

According to the Danish organic regulation (Danish link) food companies must be able do document a balance between incoming and outgoing lots. In tracezilla this is done using the above mentioned input-output Balance report.

The input-Output balance is calculated on the basis of a stock-taking as well as your order registration in tracezilla. Once the quantities of your lots have been adjusted according to the inventory count, any deviations will appear in the input-output balance report.

Justification for major deviations

In Denmark, where a food company dealing with organic products must make a report containing a description of its self-inspection procedures regarding these products, the company must also determine a value for what the company considers to be a significant or greater difference between incoming and outgoing lot. This value must be indicated in percent and it must be justified in the report.

The Danish Food Administration normally recommends a significant difference to be set at not more than 5%. In case of differences above 5% in the Input-Output Balance Report you must be able to explain what could be a probable reason for the deviation between the registered incoming and outgoing lots. You must also describe how you will try to reduce the difference in the coming inventory period.

If there are major deviations in the Input-Output balance report, you can use the Deviation report to identity where the deviations come from. If it says 0 (zero) under the column Expected, this indicates that a recipe is not associated with the production order which will give a difference in the input-output balance report.

In addition, the largest deviation will be placed at the top of the report, making it faster and easier to identify the inappropriate deviations. Read more about the report here.

Overall about the organic mass balance

The stock-taking, the input-output balance report and any possible reasons for major deviations together make up the organic accounting. In addition, documents such as invoices and recipes serve as documentation in connection with the organic mass balance.

Relevant documents to be used in connection with the organic inspection

In Denmark, the organic inspection is a part of the ordinary food inspection carried out by the Food Administration. When the Food Administration visits, it is especially relevant to have the following documents at hand in addition to the company’s documents regarding self-inspection and risk analysis:

• The report regarding organic procedures and accounting
• Certificates
• Inventory counts
• Input-output balance report
• Justification for major deviations
• Documentation of the entry and exit of lots, including invoices and recipes (recipes aa well as production BOMs (Bills of Materials)).

In addition, the Danish Food Administration can carry out a so-called cross-check during the organic inspection, where they inquire about random deliveries and documents regarding the deliveries. It can therefore be an advantage that these documents are also easily accessible during the inspection visit.