What is coming?
As of July 15, 2020, all Canadian breweries must be compliant with the Traceability Requirements under the 2020 Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.
These requirements include both a one-step backward and one-step forward view and record of products moving to and from breweries. The one-step forward view involves the tracing of kegs, cans and bottles moving from the brewery to customer locations.
It's important to note that tracing is only required for products being sold in retail locations (across all provinces) and will not be required for products sold in the taproom/direct to consumers.
What is needed to support it?
All traceability data must be stored for 2-years following the production and subsequent delivery of a good and must be obtainable within 48-hours of a government request. The data required upon government request includes the following:
Where the product was delivered
When the product was delivered
The product name
The product batch/lot code
The name & address of delivering business (brewery)
All selling units require a batch number, lot code, and complete traceability info. It's important to note that traceability data is required for products delivered using both in-house distribution and third-party distributors.
How We're Helping
The Kegshoe team is hard at work to ensure that our systems are capable of helping breweries with the end-to-end tracking and traceability required for kegs, bottles and cans in Canada.
With recent updates to our mobile batch creation and assignment function, and the development of a more sustainable one-way tracking method, we're doing everything we can to make the transition easy.
To chat with our team about the future of traceability at Kegshoe, you can reach out to us via our webpage or contact nick(at)kegshoe.ca.
Some useful resources for your team:
Government of Canada - Traceability GuidelinesLCBO Regulatory UpdatesBeer Traceability in Canada - Brewers JournalSafe Food & Craft Breweries in Canada