Receiving Log · Kitchen to Plant

A blank, fillable log for every incoming shipment — supplier, material, lot code, COA, cold-chain temperature, condition, and the accept-or-hold call — so nothing reaches your floor without a recorded check.

This is the log your receiver fills in at the dock as each delivery lands: what arrived, from whom, on which lot code, and whether it passed the checks that decide if it goes into inventory or onto a hold. Set it up once for your materials, then fill one row per shipment so nothing enters production without a recorded check.

How to use this template

The receiving check is the first gate in both your traceability and your food safety, and every row records four things at once: what the material is and who it came from, the supplier's lot code, whether the paperwork and the cold chain held, and the call on whether to accept it. Record the exactly as it appears on the label, because it is the one thing that later ties a finished lot back to its ingredients.

Two of the columns only apply to some materials. A is expected only where the material's spec calls for one; mark the rest N/A. The temperature column is for only; leave it blank for anything shelf-stable. Anything that fails a check does not go into inventory — it goes on a and onto the disposition log below.

Which materials require a COA, and who your approved suppliers are, come from your supplier qualification form and your own specs. The lesson on receiving with QC walks through the check itself, and QA holds and release covers what happens to anything you hold. The lot code you record here is what flows into your batch production record when the material gets used. Download a blank copy to adapt for your dock.

The example acceptance values here are not yours

The temperature benchmark, the COA calls, and the condition thresholds in the sample rows are illustrations to make the columns legible. Your acceptance temperatures come from your own specs and your HACCP plan, and which materials require a COA comes from your suppliers' agreed specifications — not from the numbers shown here. Set your own criteria before this log goes to the dock.

The receiving log

One row per incoming shipment. If a delivery brings several materials, or several lots of the same material, give each its own row so every lot code is recorded on its own line. Leave the temperature column blank for shelf-stable materials — it applies only to TCS items.

Date received	Supplier	Material	Supplier lot #	COA received? (Y / N / N/A)	Temp on arrival (if TCS)	Condition (packaging, seal, date, pests)	Accept / Hold	Receiver initials
(example) 07/15/2026	Bay State Dairy	Cultured butter, salted	BSD-24107	Y	39°F	Cartons intact, within date	Accept	ML
(example) 07/15/2026	Northwind Flour Co.	Organic wheat flour, 50 lb	NW-0714-B	N/A	—	Bags sound, seals intact, no pest evidence	Accept	ML
(example) 07/15/2026	Coastal Seafood	Frozen shrimp, 16/20	CS-6631	Y	~34°F, soft to the touch	Partial thaw, no longer frozen solid	Hold	ML
(example) 07/15/2026	Sunrise Sweeteners	Cane sugar, 25 kg	— (no label on pallet)	N/A	—	Pallet sound, but no lot code found	Hold	ML

Setting your accept-or-hold rule

Accept a shipment only when every check on its row passes. A single failure sends it to a hold, not into inventory. The usual triggers for a hold:

No lot code, or one you can't read — you cannot trace what you cannot identify. Hold until the supplier confirms the lot in writing.
A required COA missing — if the material's spec calls for a COA and it did not arrive, hold until it does.
A cold-chain fail on a TCS item — the common benchmark is refrigerated TCS received at 41°F (5°C) or below and frozen received frozen solid, but your own spec and HACCP plan set the limit you actually enforce. A reading above your limit, or clear signs of thaw and refreeze, is a hold.
Bad condition — damaged packaging, broken seals, pest evidence, or a material already past its date is a hold on condition alone.

Anything you hold stays out of production until quality releases or rejects it, and the decision goes on the log below.

Hold and disposition log

Every Hold row above gets a line here, so the decision is recorded rather than remembered. A hold is closed only when quality has made the call — accept with a note, return to the supplier, or reject — and written down what happened to the material.

Date held	Supplier / material	Lot #	Reason held	Decision (accept / return / reject)	Disposition detail	Decided by	Date closed
(example) 07/15/2026	Coastal Seafood / frozen shrimp	CS-6631	Received partly thawed, above frozen spec	Reject	Returned to supplier, credit requested; nothing entered inventory	RQ	07/15/2026
(example) 07/15/2026	Sunrise Sweeteners / cane sugar	(none on pallet)	No lot code on the delivery	Accept	Supplier confirmed lot SS-9920 by email; recorded on the receiving row and released	RQ	07/16/2026

Keeping the log usable

Fill it at the dock as each delivery lands, never from memory at the end of the day — the check only counts if it happened before the material moved into inventory.
Keep completed logs for the retention period your plan or your auditor requires. The receiving log is often the first record an auditor pulls to test whether an incoming lot can be traced back to its supplier.