How track and trace software improved safety and compliance for a baby milk manufacturer

Project Background: Why Traceability Matters in Baby Food

Tracking baby food and food production in general is especially important since we are dealing with the health of vulnerable groups, such as infants and people with specific dietary needs. It ensures that every step of the process — from raw ingredients to the final product — is carefully monitored and recorded.  

If proper food traceability is not in place in the food industry, several serious risks can arise. For example, if a batch of baby food is contaminated with bacteria like salmonella or contains undeclared allergens such as milk or nuts, and there’s no way to trace where it was distributed, parents may unknowingly feed it to their children, putting their health or even their lives at risk.  

For the company, this means that they must recall an entire product line, instead of just the affected batches. This causes serious financial loss, and more importantly the loss of brand reputation. In other cases, expired or counterfeit food products can end up on store shelves because there’s no system in place to detect or prevent them. These situations aren’t rare—they’ve happened many times around the world and show why track and trace systems are a matter of public safety.

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The Challenge: Urgent Compliance and a Complex Production Line

The project we worked on stemmed from such an unfortunate case.  

A leading baby milk manufacturer (our client) faced an urgent regulatory challenge: the Chinese government required all imported baby milk products to include serialization with China-specific codes. Without it, exports to one of their most important markets would be blocked. This happened because people tampered with our client’s baby formula, adding toxic substances, which led to the deaths of many infants.  

This demand came with a very short implementation window and several key challenges:

• No serialization, no export: Compliance with the food serialization regulations was non-negotiable and time-sensitive. ‍
• Long and complex production line: Unlike compact pharmaceutical lines, the food production line stretched over 100 meters, with serialization needed at the level of individual cans, boxes, and pallets.
• The system had to be implemented on an active line, with ongoing production and frequent format changes—requiring real-time integration without halting operations. ‍
• Image-based aggregation for small packs: For smaller secondary packaging, the system needed to capture a full image of box contents, extract all individual codes, and accurately link them to the correct serialized unit. ‍
• Late-stage change: After the full system had been implemented, the client requested the addition of external QR code integration, which needed to be added to the existing track and trace infrastructure.

Our Solution: End-to-End Serialization and Aggregation

Our team delivered a solution customized to meet the specific needs of a large-scale baby food line:

• Tailored software architecture: We designed a modular serialization software solution that could handle long distances between devices and adapt to changes in line configuration. ‍
• High-speed camera and image processing: We used cameras capable of capturing and processing serialization data in under 0.2 seconds, ensuring the system could keep pace with production speeds.
• ‍Real-time aggregation logic: Our system supported image-based aggregation for smaller formats, reading and assigning all codes from a single image with high accuracy. ‍
• Zero-downtime implementation: Implementation was done without stopping production, through careful coordination and phased installation. ‍
  
• Ongoing collaboration: We worked closely with the client’s technical and operations teams from the ground up—co-developing the architecture and evolving the solution through multiple phases:
  
  • Serialization and aggregation of shipping boxes
  • Serialization redesign for individual cans
  • Integration of palletization and final packaging
  • Late-stage addition of an external QR code

Results: Safer Products, Export Readiness, and Flexibility

Thanks to this implementation, our client achieved:

• Full compliance with Chinese export regulations ‍
• Zero production downtime during integration ‍
• Complete traceability across all packaging levels ‍
• Fast adaptation to new requirements (e.g. external QR code) ‍
• Improved food product safety and supply chain visibility ‍
• Stronger market position in a highly regulated and competitive sector

Why It Matters: Protecting Consumers and Strengthening the Brand

This project highlights how serialization and track & trace software go far beyond compliance. They directly support product safety, consumer trust, and business continuity. In industries like baby food, where even a small risk can have major consequences, traceability solutions are essential.  

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Explore More Track & Trace Projects

We combine deep domain knowledge, flexible architecture, and real-world experience to deliver systems that work in practice—not just on paper.  

Read other case studies:  

How we helped a multinational food and drink processing corporation increase product safety in a greenfield project.  

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