What this is
What is a trace exercise record?
What is a trace exercise record?
The log of a practice trace run on a selected batch, tracking it forward to where it went and backward to what it was made from, and checking whether the records needed to do that were found, complete and legible within a target time.
How is this different from a mock recall?
A mock recall simulates the full withdrawal decision and communication under time pressure, involving the recall team. A trace exercise is narrower and more frequent: it tests only whether the underlying records can be located and reconciled, the foundation a mock recall depends on.
Why does the batch need to be selected randomly?
A batch chosen for convenience has well-kept records by definition, and one chosen by an auditor is deliberately picked to expose a weakness. Random selection is the only method that tests what an ordinary batch's records actually look like.
Scope
When is a trace exercise record required?
This record is a routine, quarterly check on the traceability system in isolation, not a rehearsal of the recall decision itself. Where the question is whether the whole recall procedure works under time pressure, this template is the wrong instrument.
Use this template when
- The quarterly trace exercise is due and a batch needs to be selected and traced
- A check is needed to test the traceability system outside of an audit or a real event
- You are running the Traceability and Recall programme and this is one of its routine steps
- A previous exercise found gaps and a follow-up trace is being run to verify they were closed
- An auditor or certification body expects evidence of trace testing between annual mock recalls
Do not use it for
- Mock Recall Record, which tests the full recall decision and communication under time pressure, not just record retrieval
- Batch Traceability Record, the routine per-batch link from raw materials to finished product and customer, kept for every batch rather than tested quarterly on one
- Lot Coding Verification, which confirms the code printed on the product is correct and legible, not whether the records behind it can be found
- Despatch Record, which records what left the site, when and to whom, and is a source this exercise checks rather than a substitute for it
- Recall Plan, which sets out the roles and decision procedure a trace exercise does not exercise
Compliance mapping
Which SQF 2.6 requirements does this satisfy?
SQF and BRCGS both expect the traceability system to be tested at a defined frequency, distinct from the annual recall exercise, and this record is the evidence of that more frequent test.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| SQF 2.6 | Traceability system maintained and verified, covering raw materials, packaging, rework and finished product to the customer | Coverage |
| BRCGS cl.3.9 | Traceability system tested at a defined frequency using a method appropriate to the site, with the exercise type and batch selection recorded | Header |
| BRCGS cl.3.11 | Recall and withdrawal capability demonstrated within a target time, with gaps found routed to corrective action | Result |
| FSMA Sec. 204 (21 CFR Part 1 Subpart S) | Key data elements for foods on the Food Traceability List retrievable within 24 hours, in a sortable electronic format | Trace performance |
| ISO 22000 cl.8.3 | Traceability system identifies raw material lots, processing history and the point of distribution for each product | Coverage |
| Codex CXG 60-2006 | Product tracing systems verified for accuracy and completeness, with the verification method appropriate to the product and risk | Gaps found |
What it does not cover
- Mock Recall Record, which is the full annual test of the recall decision and communication chain, not a quarterly records check.
- Batch Traceability Record, the routine per-batch documentation of raw material to customer linkage, which this exercise samples rather than replaces.
- Lot Coding Verification, which confirms the printed code itself is correct and legible, a narrower and more frequent check than a full trace.
- Despatch Record, the routine log of what left the site, on which vehicle and to which customer, which this exercise draws on as a source.
- Recall Plan, the standing procedure defining roles, contacts and the withdrawal decision, which a trace exercise does not exercise.
Global
Trace Exercise Record requirements by country
The duty to test traceability sits inside certification schemes and, for specific products, a direct regulatory recordkeeping requirement, rather than a general legal obligation to run exercises.
FSMA Food Traceability Rule, 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart S
Foods on the Food Traceability List must have key data elements retrievable within 24 hours of a request.
A trace exercise on a covered product is close to a direct test of a regulatory obligation, not just a certification nicety, and the 24-hour figure is a real benchmark to compare Duration Minutes against.
BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety, cl.3.9
Traceability system tested at a frequency the site defines and justifies, distinct from the annual full mock recall.
An auditor will ask what evidence exists of testing between annual recalls, and this record is that evidence; without it, the annual mock recall is the only test on file.
SQF Code cl.2.6; ISO 22000 cl.8.3
Traceability system verification required as part of the certified food safety system, covering the full chain from raw material to distribution.
Certification bodies expect the verification method, sampling and results to be documented, not just asserted as routine practice.
How to complete it
How to complete a trace exercise record, step by step
The template records times, ticks and percentages. Whether the exercise proves anything depends on choices made before the trace even starts.
Selected By exists because the method of selection changes what the result means. A batch chosen by quality because it is a known clean run tells you nothing new. Random selection, logged as such, is the only version of this exercise that tests an ordinary batch rather than a good one.
Records Located Without Help distinguishes a system anyone can use from one that depends on a specific person's memory. Scoring found-with-help the same as found-without-help erases the exact signal this field is designed to catch.
Percent Accounted For and Mass Balance Achieved should come from actually summing quantities against the batch record, not from an overall impression that the trace went well. An exercise that reports high completeness and a felt sense of success but no calculated percentage has skipped the part that makes the result checkable later.
A gap logged as serious with no CAPA raised sits outside the corrective action system, invisible to anyone reviewing action status. Action Required and the CAPA ID exist so a serious gap becomes a tracked item, not a line nobody revisits before the next quarter.
What auditors find
Most common trace exercise record findings
Findings on trace exercises tend to concern what was skipped in the arithmetic, not whether the exercise happened.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Batch selected by quality for convenience rather than randomly, undermining the test. | BRCGS cl.3.9 | Use a random selection method and record it in Selected By; reserve auditor-chosen batches for when one is specified. |
| Records found only with help from one person, but scored the same as found without help. | SQF 2.6 | Score found-with-help as a partial result and raise an action to spread the knowledge, not just the record. |
| Percent Accounted For left blank or entered as a round estimate with no supporting calculation. | ISO 22000 cl.8.3 | Require the quantities used in the calculation to be recorded alongside the percentage. |
| Rework or processing aids left untraced with no gap logged, assumed minor. | Codex CXG 60-2006 | Treat rework and processing aids as mandatory trace points; log a gap if either cannot be reconciled. |
| Gap found and rated serious, but no CAPA ID or action owner recorded. | BRCGS cl.3.11 | Make Action Required and CAPA ID mandatory whenever a gap is rated moderate or serious. |
| Duration recorded but never compared against the target, so a slow trace goes unflagged. | FSMA Sec. 204 (21 CFR Part 1 Subpart S) | Set Target Time Met from an actual comparison to Duration Minutes, not a default yes. |
Case in point
Case in point: the exercise that passed on paper and missed the rework
A cheese plant ran its quarterly trace exercise on a batch of cream cheese, selected at random. Every raw material and packaging record was located within the target time, complete and legible, and the exercise concluded Records Complete: Yes, Target Time Met: Yes, Result Band: Pass. Rework Traced was answered Partly, because the rework log existed but the specific addition to this batch could not be matched to a quantity, and Action Required was left as No because the overall result was a pass.
Four months later a genuine complaint required tracing a different batch that had used rework from the same period, and the same gap reappeared: the rework log recorded that a batch existed, not how much went into which finished batch. A calculated percent accounted for, instead of one implied by the overall pass, would have shown less than full coverage, and the Partly answer on rework should have opened an action long before the complaint made it urgent.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
5 sections
- Reference
- QUA-076
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- TEX-2026-000
- Scoring
- Trace time, percent accounted
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- SQF 2.6
- Links
- Links Traceability
- Tags
- Traceability, Verification
- Sections
- 5
- Fields
- 45
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 3
Header
11 fieldsExercise ID*
Auto sequence. Format TEX-2026-0000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Raised By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Exercise Type*
Forward, backward or both. Shorter than a full mock recall, run more often.
- Desktop2 pts
- Functional3 pts
- Full scale4 pts
Selected By*
Random selection is more revealing than choosing a convenient batch.
- Random selection3 pts
- Chosen by auditor2 pts
- Chosen by us1 pt
Batch Number*
Numeric key joining to your ERP batch record.
Links to External system reference
Product*
Production Date*
Trace performance
6 fieldsStart Time*
Completion Time*
Duration Minutes*
Records Located Without Help*
If only one person can find the records, you do not have a traceability system.
- Yes3 pts
- With help1 pt
- Not found0 pts
Records Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Records Legible*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Coverage
8 fieldsRaw Materials Traced*
All Suppliers Identified*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Packaging Traced*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Rework Traced*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
- None usedexcluded from denominator
Processing Aids Traced
- Yes3 pts
- Not used3 pts
- No0 pts
Customers Identified*
- All3 pts
- Most1 pt
- Few0 pts
Mass Balance Achieved*
- Yes, 100 percent3 pts
- Partial1 pt
- No0 pts
Percent Accounted For*
Gaps found
Repeats4 fieldsGap Description*
Where In The Chain*
Severity*
- Minor3 pts
- Moderate1 pt
- Serious0 pts
Finding ID
Links to FDN-015 Finding ID
Result
16 fieldsItems Assessed*
Excludes anything marked N/A.
Items Failed*
Score Percent*
Calculated on submission. High is good. N/A items leave the denominator.
Result Band*
- Pass3 pts
- Caution1 pt
- Fail0 pts
Completeness Percent*
How much of the template was actually answered. A high score on a half completed form is not a high score.
Target Time Met*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
System Adequate*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Next Exercise Due*
Quality*
Signature*
Quality Manager*
Second Signature*
QUA-076 · record IDs look like TEX-2026-000 · Links Traceability
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The exercise itself is a few hours of checking. What decides whether it improves anything is whether a partial answer gets treated as a finding.
Holds the trace exercise history against the gaps register, and flags when the same gap type recurs across exercises rather than being closed.
Checks whether a gap traced to a specific person or team maps back to a training record, so a retrieval failure gets routed to retraining rather than just logged.
Watches Percent Accounted For and Result Band across exercises, and raises a review when a pass result coexists with a gap that was never converted into an action.
This template lives in KnowQuality — quality and food safety. HACCP, nonconformance, traceability, laboratory and customer complaints.
Meet KnowQuality→Glossary
Trace Exercise Record definitions and key terms
- One-up-one-down
- The minimum traceability standard of knowing the immediate supplier and immediate customer of a lot, which this exercise tests by tracing forward and backward from a selected batch.
- Mass balance
- Reconciliation of the quantity of raw material and packaging that went into a batch against the quantity of finished product that came out, used to detect unaccounted loss or unrecorded rework.
- Percent accounted for
- The proportion of a batch's material or finished product quantity that the trace exercise could actually link to a record, as distinct from whether records were merely found.
- Key data elements (KDE)
- The specific pieces of information, such as lot code, quantity and location, that the FSMA Food Traceability Rule requires to be retrievable for covered foods.
- Trace exercise
- A shorter, more frequent test of record retrieval and reconciliation on a single batch, distinct from the annual mock recall that also tests the withdrawal decision.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about trace exercise record
How often should a trace exercise be run?+
Quarterly is typical, sitting between the annual mock recall and day-to-day batch traceability records. The right frequency depends on product risk and scheme expectations, but a gap of more than a year between any form of testing is hard to defend at audit.
What counts as a serious gap?+
One that would have prevented an actual recall from meeting its target, such as a record that cannot be found at all, a quantity that cannot be reconciled, or a customer that cannot be identified. A legible-but-slow record is a minor finding; an untraceable one is serious regardless of how quickly the rest of the trace went.
Why does Selected By matter so much?+
Because it determines what the result can be generalised to. A randomly selected batch's result says something about an average batch's records. A batch chosen because it was easy says something about the best case, which is not the case a real recall will present.
Should rework and processing aids really be traced separately?+
Yes. They are common places a chain breaks, because they are added outside the main raw material flow and are easy to log as used without recording which finished batch they went into. Not Used is a legitimate answer; blank or assumed is not.
What is the difference between mass balance and percent accounted for?+
Mass balance checks that input and output quantities reconcile; percent accounted for measures how much of the batch could be traced to a record at all. A batch can have a clean mass balance on the volumes checked while a meaningful share of it was never traced because a record could not be found.
What happens after a gap is logged?+
A gap rated moderate or serious raises an action with an owner and a CAPA reference, the same as any other nonconformance, and Next Exercise Due should reflect whether it needs verifying sooner than the standard quarterly interval.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Traceability and Recall
Recall Plan
Sets out how product would be traced, held and recovered if it had to be recalled
Mock Recall Record
Tests the recall plan by tracing a real batch forward and back without actually recalling it
Batch Traceability Record
Links raw materials to finished product batches and on to customers
Lot Coding Verification
Confirms the lot or date code printed on product is correct and readable
Despatch Record
Records what product left, when, on which vehicle and to which customer
Date Coding Verification
Verifies date and batch coding is present, legible, correct and in the right position
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- SQF Code, Edition 9, module 2.6
- BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety, Issue 9, clauses 3.9 and 3.11
- FSMA Food Traceability Rule, 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart S
- ISO 22000:2018, clause 8.3
- Codex Alimentarius CXG 60-2006, Principles for Traceability/Product Tracing
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.