Lot number vs batch number

A batch is a quantity of product made in one production run, under the same conditions, so it is expected to be uniform. A lot is a quantity that can be traced as one unit, and in the rules that define both, it is either the same thing as a batch or a defined part of one. The lot number or batch number is the code printed on the pack that ties every unit back to that run. Companies use the two words differently, so the definitions in law are the safe reference:

• EU food law (Directive 2011/91/EU, Art. 1): “‘lot’ means a batch of sales units of a foodstuff produced, manufactured or packaged under practically the same conditions.” Here lot and batch are one thing.
• US drug manufacturing (21 CFR 210.3): a batch is “a specific quantity of a drug or other material that is intended to have uniform character and quality … produced according to a single manufacturing order during the same cycle of manufacture”; a lot is “a batch, or a specific identified portion of a batch”. The rule treats “lot number, control number, or batch number” as one term.

Why a warehouse cares. The lot is the unit of a recall, of FEFO (one lot, one expiry date) and of most quality holds. Storing one lot per lane in deep racking keeps a lot together and lets the store rotate lanes by date. Receiving records that capture the lot number on every pallet are what make a recall a search instead of a stock count.

Sources

• Directive 2011/91/EU on indications or marks identifying the lot to which a foodstuff belongs, Art. 1(2).
• 21 CFR 210.3(b)(2), (b)(10), (b)(11).
• WHO TRS 1044 (2022), Annex 8, §3: batch.