How batch verification works for supplement brands

You create a product in the workspace and give it a short public address. That address is fixed the moment the product exists: it is what the QR code encodes, and it never changes — correcting a SKU or a product name later does not move it.

Download the code as SVG for print or PNG for mock-ups and hand it to whoever does your artwork. The code identifies the product, not a production run, so new batches never change the packaging. Print it with a line telling customers to scan it and enter their lot code.

Printing a permanent QR code on your packaging covers the files and how to print them.

When a run is made, you create a batch with the lot code exactly as it is stamped on the pack, plus its manufacture and best-before dates. A new batch starts as Pending, so nothing about it is presented as released until you say so.

Attach the certificate of analysis your laboratory issued, as a PDF. Every file is checked for malware before it can be published. Publishing the batch and publishing its certificate are two separate steps, so a lot can go out before its paperwork is ready, and a certificate can be corrected without touching the lot.

A corrected certificate is uploaded as a new revision rather than written over the old one. The previous revision stays on the public page until the new one is published, so customers never see a gap.

Publishing a certificate of analysis for each batch covers the scan, revisions and exactly when a certificate is shown.

1. 01 — Scan

   With the phone's own camera. There is no app to install and no account to create, and the page works with JavaScript switched off.

2. 02 — Enter the lot code

   Case and stray spaces do not matter — l2607-a14 finds L2607-A14. The match itself is exact, so a code that is not one of yours never resolves to a batch that merely looks similar.

3. 03 — See the batch

   Its status, its dates, the note you wrote for customers, and a link to the certificate — or, if the batch is on hold or recalled, your notice in its place. Your support address is on every result.

If nothing matches, the page says it could not find a batch with that code, suggests the characters that are easy to misread, says where lot codes are usually printed, and gives your support address. It says nothing about the product itself: a miss usually means a character was hard to read off a curved label.

In the workspace you see what customers typed and did not find, per product, alongside the lot code they most likely meant when one is close. A print that is hard to read shows up there as data rather than as a support queue.

Every batch is in exactly one status, and the public page follows it. Each status is shown with a mark and a word, never by colour alone.

◷ Pending

Created, not yet published. Customers are told the lot is in production checks and no certificate is published yet.

✓ Verified

Published, with its dates, your note and its certificate of analysis once that is published too.

‖ Quarantined

On hold while you investigate. Your notice replaces the normal presentation and the certificate is withheld.

⨯ Recalled

A stop-use notice comes first, with your instructions. A recall can only move on to Archived — it never quietly returns to Verified.

▣ Archived

Kept as history. Old lot codes keep answering instead of going dark, because the bottles are still in cupboards.

Status always outranks the certificate. A published certificate behind a quarantined or recalled lot is not shown, and the certificate link on the page stops working the moment the status changes.

You move it to Quarantined or Recalled, and in the same step you write the notice customers will read — the change cannot be made without one. A recall also asks you to type the lot code to confirm, so it cannot happen by a stray click.

Who can do this is a permission, not a courtesy. In your team, owners, admins and QA managers can recall; operations can put a lot on hold but not recall it; viewers can do neither. BatchRoute support staff can do neither: they can read your workspace to answer a question, inside a time-limited access window they open with a reason recorded in your history, and change nothing.

The next person to look that lot up sees the notice. There is no reprint and no cached copy to wait for: a lookup is answered fresh every time. A recalled lot keeps its stop-use notice even after you archive it, because archiving tidies your records and does not bring the bottles back.

A notice here is a way to reach the person holding the product. It does not replace your statutory recall obligations.

How lot-specific recalls and holds reach customers covers this in more detail, with an example of what a customer sees.

Every change — a batch created, a certificate published, a status moved, a notice edited — is recorded with the person's name, role and the time, and what it was before and after. Nothing in the workspace edits or deletes an entry, and neither can our support staff. The only exceptions are the ones our privacy notice sets out: removing or anonymising personal information where privacy law requires it, and the retention period it describes.

If someone at BatchRoute opens your workspace, for example to answer a question you asked, that is recorded in the same history with the reason they gave.

BatchRoute publishes and hosts the batch information you give it. It is verification and documentation infrastructure — not a testing laboratory, a certification body, or a statement that a product meets any regulation. We don't test your product, review your laboratory results, certify anything or determine regulatory compliance. You remain responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of what you publish.