The verdict in three sentences
For a ready-meals plant audited to BRCGS and supplying UK supermarkets, paper or spreadsheet traceability can no longer meet the 4-hour target for isolating the lots involved in a product recall. Custom traceability software costs, as a 2026 ballpark, EUR 50,000 to 110,000 excluding VAT, delivered in 5 to 8 months with upstream and downstream tracing, labelling and HACCP records on tablets. Set against an average recall cost of EUR 100,000 to 1 million, the investment holds up from the first incident avoided or contained.
What traceability really has to cover
A plant in west Dublin processing meat, vegetables and sauces often handles 300 to 600 raw materials and several thousand lots a month. EU Regulation 178/2002, enforced in Ireland by the FSAI, requires knowing where each ingredient came from and who received each finished product. UK retailers add their own codes of practice: mock recalls within 4 hours, mass balance within a few percent, and supplier portal reporting after any incident. Since Brexit, products bound for Great Britain must also carry correct UK labelling and importer details.
The usual problem is not missing data but scattered data: paper intake sheets, handwritten batch records, an ERP that knows shipments but not the ingredient lots consumed. During a recall, the technical manager rebuilds the chain by cross-checking these sources, which often takes 1 to 3 days.
Solutions compared in 2026
| Criterion | Paper and Excel | Food ERP traceability module | Custom software |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Near zero | EUR 30,000 to 80,000 | EUR 50,000 to 110,000 |
| Recurring cost | 0.5 to 1 FTE of data entry | EUR 15,000 to 30,000 per year | 10 to 15% of budget per year |
| Time to trace a lot | 1 to 3 days | 2 to 8 hours | Under 1 hour |
| HACCP records | Paper sheets | Often outside the module | Tablet, real-time alerts |
| Mass balance for audit | Manual | Partial | Automatic per lot |
| Fit with your recipes and process | Full but fragile | Limited | Complete |
| Time to deploy | Immediate | 6 to 12 months | 5 to 8 months |
Figures are 2026 ballparks for the Irish and EU market. A food ERP module makes sense if the current ERP is recent and well adopted. Custom software wins when the plant has specific processes (assemblies, rework, multi-stage cooking) that standard modules handle poorly.
Modules and their weight in the budget
| Module | Share of budget | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Intake and supplier lots | 15 to 20% | Scan supplier lot, use-by date, temperature check at intake |
| Production and consumption | 25 to 30% | Work orders, weighing, lots consumed per lot produced |
| Labelling | 10 to 15% | EU FIC and UK compliant labels, allergens, GS1-128 code |
| HACCP records on tablet | 15 to 20% | CCPs, temperatures, cleaning, corrective actions |
| Dispatch and downstream tracing | 10 to 15% | Lots shipped per customer and per truck, incl. UK loads |
| Recall and mass balance | 10 to 15% | One-click upstream and downstream search, audit export |
Add hardware: rugged tablets at EUR 600 to 1,200 each, label printers at EUR 1,500 to 3,000, connected scales if weights are not already captured.
Mini case study
Niamh, technical manager of a 140-employee ready-meals plant in Clondalkin, went through a recall caused by a contaminated spice lot. Rebuilding the chain took 2 days, and the plant recalled 9 days of production as a precaution instead of 3.
- Cost of the extended recall: about EUR 380,000 (destroyed stock, reverse logistics, retailer charges).
- With lot-level tracing, scope would have been 3 days, about EUR 130,000.
- Gap avoided on a single incident: about EUR 250,000.
- Project budget: EUR 85,000 software, EUR 15,000 hardware, EUR 10,000 annual maintenance.
Even before counting the 0.6 FTE of paper entry saved (about EUR 26,000 per year), one better-contained recall repays the investment more than twice over.
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How a 5 to 8 month project runs
Scoping takes 3 to 4 weeks: flow mapping, HACCP plan review, analysis of recent audit reports and UK customer requirements. A first release covers intake, production and labelling. The second adds tablet HACCP, downstream tracing and the recall module, validated by a timed mock recall before the next audit. At Kolonell, this kind of project falls under our custom web applications, priced on quote after a scoping workshop.
FAQ
Is the software enough to pass BRCGS?
No, it provides the evidence but the auditor also assesses procedures. In practice, equipped plants complete the traceability test in under 1 hour against the 4 hours required.
Can we keep our current ERP?
Yes, the software pulls items, orders and shipments from the ERP via API or files, an interface that typically costs EUR 8,000 to 20,000.
Will operators adopt tablets?
Adoption depends on simplicity: 3 to 4 screens per station, large buttons, scanning rather than typing. Plan 2 to 3 hours of training per operator.
What about network outages?
Tablets record offline and sync when the network returns, so HACCP readings are not lost during an outage of a few minutes or hours.
What does maintenance cost?
Plan 10 to 15% of the initial budget per year, so EUR 5,000 to 16,500 for a EUR 50,000 to 110,000 project, with no per-user licence.
Let's scope your project. Send us your HACCP plan and latest audit report, and we will scope upstream and downstream traceability delivered in 5 to 8 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
